Amal Clooney > Doughty Street Chambers > London, England > Lawyer Profile
Doughty Street Chambers Offices
Doughty Street Chambers
53-54 DOUGHTY STREET
LONDON
WC1N 2LS
England
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Amal Clooney
Work Department
Position
Amal represents clients before international courts including the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights and domestic courts in the UK and US. Alongside court work, she provides advice to governments and individuals on legal issues in her areas of expertise.
Amal is ranked in the leading legal directories Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 as one of the top lawyers in the UK in the fields of international human rights and international criminal law. According to the rankings she is a “very effective and focused advocate, and somebody who is able to work very effectively with people.” She is said to be a “human rights expert” and “key operator in the field of international human rights” who “attracts plaudits for her ability to handle complex [international criminal] proceedings in difficult cases”. According to commentators Amal is “extremely intelligent, really bright, and an exceptional lawyer”. The directory also highlights that “[s]he’s very skilled and very thoughtful in the way she approaches a case, and has a great understanding of ICC [International Criminal Court] practices.”
Amal served as a senior advisor to Kofi Annan when he was the UN’s Envoy on Syria. She also served as Counsel to the UN Inquiry on the use of armed drones led by the Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights. She is a member of the UK’s team of experts on preventing sexual violence in conflict zones. And she was recently appointed to the UK Attorney General’s expert panel set up to advise and represent the UK government in cases involving public international law.
Prior to joining the London Bar, Amal worked in The Hague with various UN-sponsored justice mechanisms including the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. She is also admitted to the New York Bar and practiced as a litigation attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York. She speaks English, French and (conversational) Arabic.
Career
Called 2010, Inner Temple.
Languages
French, Arabic.
Memberships
International Bar Association; International Law Association; British Institute of International and Comparative Law; International Human Rights Lawyers Association; Bar Human Rights Committee; Chatham House.
Education
Oxford University (St Hugh’s College) (BA, Jurisprudence); New York University School of Law (LLM).
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > International crime and extradition
(Leading Juniors) Ranked: Tier 3Amal Clooney – Doughty Street Chambers ‘She is an extremely articulate, careful, thoughtful and pragmatic lawyer. She does not hesitate to dig into the legal merits of issues, always being attentive to potential weaknesses in the case and how best to address them. She is a rare combination of intellectual depth and pragmatism.’
Doughty Street Chambers ‘has an excellent, in-depth extradition team‘, with particular strength in human rights cases, and is also ‘pre-eminent in international criminal law‘, according to clients. In a recent highlight, ‘impressive advocate‘ Edward Fitzgerald QC represented the appellant before the Supreme Court in Elgizouli v Secretary of State for the Home Department, a challenge to the Secretary of State’s decision to provide mutual legal assistance to the USA for a capital trial, without seeking assurances that the death penalty would not be imposed; the Supreme Court upheld the challenge. In other recent news of note, the ‘fearless‘ Ben Cooper QC took silk in March 2020 further strengthening the set at the senior end. Elsewhere in chambers, the ‘meticulous‘ Amal Clooney is ‘tactically first class and a natural lead advocate in cases‘; Australia- and English-qualified Megan Hirst has developed ‘a preeminent role in acting for victims in international courts‘; and Amelia Nice‘s experience of family law is ‘an added bonus and places her ahead of many of her peers when there is an overlap of family law in extradition cases‘.
London Bar > Public international law
(Leading Juniors) Ranked: Tier 2Amal Clooney – Doughty Street Chambers ‘She is a brilliant legal mind, with strong interpersonal skills – highly diligent and detailed in her work, with a passionate commitment to the law and compassion for the people it serves.’