Amal Clooney (née Alamuddin; Arabic: أمل كلوني; born (1978-02-03)3 February 1978)[1] is a British-Lebanese international human rights lawyer.

[13] He received his MBA degree at the American University of Beirut and returned to Lebanon in 1991,[14][15] one year after the Lebanese Civil War ended.

[16][13] She was a political journalist and foreign editor of the London-based newspaper al-Hayat, which is owned by Saudi Arabian prince Khalid bin Sultan Al Saud.

[23][24] While at the university, she worked for one semester in the office of American lawyer and jurist Sonia Sotomayor, who was then a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and an NYU Law faculty member.

[23] She worked at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City for three years as part of the Criminal Defense and Investigations Group, where her clients included Enron and Arthur Andersen.

[32] Clooney regularly represents journalists and was appointed in 2019 as the inaugural Deputy Chair of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom by Lord Neuberger.

[33] In March 2018, Clooney joined the international legal team that represent the Pulitzer Prize-winning Burmese journalists for Reuters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were sentenced to seven years in prison by the Government of Myanmar for reporting on the murders of ten Rohingya men by the Buddhist villagers and Myanmar paramilitary police in the village of Inn Din in September 2017.

[35] In July 2019, she and Irish barrister Caoilfhionn Gallagher became the leaders of the international legal team that represents Filipino-American journalist Maria Ressa.

In January 2015, she became a member of a legal team that represent Armenia on an appeal before the European Court of Human Rights against Turkish politician Doğu Perinçek who was convicted of denying the Armenian genocide.

[40] In November 2021, Clooney was co-plaintiff's and victims' counsel in the first case in which Islamic State member, Taha al-Jumailly, was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.

[43] In December 2023, Clooney filed a civil case on behalf of over 800 Yazidi-American plaintiffs against French cement manufacturer Lafarge for conspiring to provide material support to the Salafi jihadist group Islamic State.

CFJ focuses on three initiatives: TrialWatch, which monitors criminal trials against journalists and other vulnerable groups and has prevailed in every case taken to an international body; the Docket, whose participants investigate mass atrocities to trigger prosecutions and represent victims; and Waging Justice for Women, which litigates against discriminatory laws and gender-based abuse.

The last initiative includes legal aid clinics across Africa and a collaboration with Michelle Obama and Melinda French Gates supporting the education and empowerment of adolescent girls.

Professor of Clinical Law Margaret Satterthwaite ’99, UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, says that CFJ is doing “crucial work...to make sure brave justice advocates can continue to advance human rights despite threats, criminalization, and harassment.”[62] She partnered with the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative in beginning the Amal Clooney Scholarship, which was created to send one female student from Lebanon to the United World College Dilijan each year, to enroll in a two-year International Baccalaureate (IB) programme.

[64] In 2017, the Clooneys awarded a $1 million grant to the Southern Poverty Law Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, to combat hate groups in America.

[69] The couple also made a donation to The Mill at Sonning Theatre, located close to their Berkshire home, which helped ensure its survival through the pandemic.

[70] In 2022, Clooney, along with Michelle Obama and Melinda French Gates, launched the 'Get Her There' campaign that seeks to catalyse educating and empowering teenage females.