Amal Clooney

Career

Amal Clooney is a barrister who specializes in international law and human rights. She is ranked in the legal directories Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners as a leading barrister in international human rights law, public international law, and international criminal law. She is described as ‘a brilliant legal mind’ who is ‘in a league of her own at the Bar’. The directories spotlight her ‘commanding presence before courts’ and describe her as ‘a dream performer before international tribunals’ with ‘superb advocacy’ that is ‘crystal clear in focus and highly persuasive’. The rankings emphasize her ability to galvanize ‘heads of state, foreign ministers and business … in a way that is very effective’ for victims of human rights abuses. She is also described as being ‘amazing with vulnerable witnesses’ and having a ‘passionate commitment to the law and compassion for the people it serves’. Her contributions have been recognised by the Committee to Protect Journalists, the American Society of International Law, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, the Kings Trust and Time Magazine. Most recently, in 2024, she won the Legal 500 Award for international lawyer of the year.

Amal’s practice has included representing victims of sexual violence in the only trials in which ISIS members have been convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity. She represents over 800 ISIS victims in the first case in a U.S. court seeking to hold ISIS financiers responsible for supporting the terror group. She has represented Armenia in a case involving the Armenian genocide and was counsel to over 100 victims of crimes against humanity in Darfur, Sudan, at the International Criminal Court. In 2022, Amal led a Legal Task Force that advised the government of Ukraine on legal avenues to secure accountability for war crimes and compensation for victims in Ukraine.

Amal frequently represents political prisoners and has helped to secure the freedom of journalists imprisoned for their work across the globe. Her work has included defending Reuters journalists who uncovered evidence of genocide in Myanmar, journalists covering protests in Egypt and a leading investigative journalist exposing corruption in Azerbaijan, all of whom were released following her work. She currently represents Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, who faces decades behind bars for her work as a journalist in the Philippines.

Amal previously served as a rapporteur for the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute and as a member of the United Kingdom’s Team of Experts on preventing sexual violence in conflict zones. She has been appointed to the UK Attorney General’s Public International Law Panel of Counsel and as a Special Envoy by the former UK Foreign Secretary. She was also deputy chair of a Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, chaired by a former UK Supreme Court President, that has provided legal and policy advice to over 50 governments.

Amal is a Professor of Practice in International Law at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government and an Honorary Fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford. And she is the co-founder of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which provides free legal aid in defence of free speech and women’s rights in over 40 countries. Its work has led to dozens of journalists being set free and thousands of women receiving free legal support to defend their rights, including their rights to freedom from abuse, economic discrimination and child marriage. In 2022, the Foundation partnered with the Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance and Melinda French Gates to advance gender equality and reduce levels of child marriage worldwide. The Foundation also provides a fellowship program to help young women lawyers across Africa launch careers in human rights.

Before joining the London bar, Amal worked in The Hague at the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and as a prosecutor at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. She is admitted to the New York Bar and practiced as a litigation attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York.

Professional Memberships

Admitted to the Bar in New York (2002), England & Wales (2010)

Selected Appointments

Current Appointments

• Member of UK Attorney General’s Public International Law Panel of experts.

• Honorary Fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford.

Publications

(Selected)

• Freedom of Speech in International Law, co-edited with D. Neuberger (Oxford University Press, 2024).

• The Right to a Fair Trial in International Law, with P. Webb (Oxford University Press, 2020) (winner of the American Society of

International Law 2022 Certificate of Merit)

• The Right to a Fair Trial under Article 14 of the ICCPR, with P. Webb (Oxford University Press, 2021)

• Human Rights, chapter in I. Roberts (ed.), Satow’s Diplomatic Practice (8th Edition, Oxford University Press, 2023)

Awards