Amal Clooney facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Amal Clooney
Clooney in 2022
Born	Amal Alamuddin (1978-02-03) 3 February 1978 (age 47) Beirut, Lebanon
Citizenship	United Kingdom Lebanon
Education	St Hugh's College, Oxford (BA) New York University (LLM)
Occupation	Barrister
Years active	2000–present
Spouse(s)	George Clooney ​ (m. 2014)​
Children	2

Amal Clooney (born Amal Alamuddin on February 3, 1978) is a famous British lawyer who specializes in international human rights law. This means she helps protect the basic rights and freedoms of people all over the world.

She has worked on many important cases. She has represented well-known people like WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad. She also teaches law at Columbia Law School and the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. In 2016, she and her husband, actor George Clooney, started the Clooney Foundation for Justice to fight for people's rights.

Early Life and Schooling

Amal Alamuddin was born in Beirut, Lebanon. When she was two, her family moved to the United Kingdom to escape the Lebanese Civil War. They settled in a town called Gerrards Cross. She has one sister and two half-brothers.

Her father, Ramzi Alamuddin, is a businessman from a well-known family in Lebanon. Her mother, Baria Alamuddin, was a respected political journalist. She also started her own public relations company.

St Hugh's College, Oxford, where Clooney studied law.

Clooney was a great student. She went to Dr Challoner's High School, a top school for girls. After that, she studied law at St Hugh's College, Oxford. She earned awards for her hard work and graduated in 2000. She later said that studying at Oxford "opened my eyes; it opened my mind; and it has opened so many doors."

After Oxford, she moved to the United States. She earned a Master of Laws degree from New York University School of Law. While there, she worked for Sonia Sotomayor, who later became a judge on the U.S. Supreme Court.

A Career in Law

Clooney (right) with Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland in 2019.

Amal Clooney is a barrister, a type of lawyer who can argue cases in high courts. She can practice law in both the United States and the United Kingdom. She is a member of the famous Doughty Street Chambers in London.

She has worked at important international courts in The Hague, like the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. Early in her career, she worked for a big law firm in New York City.

Fighting for Human Rights

Clooney's main focus is human rights. She often defends journalists who have been put in jail for their work. In 2019, she was chosen to help lead a group of legal experts to protect media freedom around the world.

She has represented many journalists, including Maria Ressa from the Philippines. Ressa later won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for her brave work. Clooney also helped free two journalists from Myanmar who were jailed for reporting on a massacre.

Clooney also represents victims of major crimes like genocide and violence. She has worked on cases related to the Armenian genocide and the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. She helped get the first-ever conviction of an Islamic State member for genocide.

In 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Clooney joined a legal team to advise the Ukrainian government. The team helps find ways to hold Russia accountable for its actions.

In 2024, she was part of a panel of experts for the International Criminal Court. They reviewed evidence of possible war crimes in the Gaza war. The panel recommended seeking arrest warrants for leaders from both Hamas and Israel.

Teaching and Appointments

Clooney with British foreign minister Mark Field in London, 2018.

Besides her court cases, Clooney is also a respected teacher. Since 2015, she has taught human rights law at Columbia Law School. In 2025, she was appointed a Professor of Practice at Oxford University. She has also given lectures at many other universities.

She has held several important positions:

• Adviser to the International Criminal Court Prosecutor.
• Adviser to the UK government on international law.
• UK Special Envoy on Media Freedom.
• Adviser to former UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan on Syria.

Clooney Foundation for Justice

In 2016, Amal and George Clooney started the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ). The foundation offers free legal help to people in over 40 countries. It focuses on protecting free speech and women's rights.

One of its main projects is TrialWatch. This program helps journalists who have been unfairly jailed. Another project, Waging Justice for Women, helps women and girls fight for their rights. This includes fighting against child marriage and violence.

The foundation has helped free dozens of journalists. It has also given thousands of women the legal support they need. In 2022, the CFJ partnered with Michelle Obama's Girls Opportunity Alliance to help end child marriage worldwide.

Charity Work

Amal Clooney is also known for her charity work. She started a scholarship to send one female student from Lebanon to a special international school each year.

She and her husband have also sponsored a student from the Yazidi community to study at the University of Chicago.

The Clooneys have donated to many causes.

• In 2017, they gave $1 million to a center that fights against hate groups.
• In 2018, they pledged $500,000 to the March for Our Lives to support safer schools.
• In 2020, they donated $1 million to help people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• They also gave $100,000 to charities helping victims of the 2020 explosion in Beirut.

In 2022, Clooney joined Michelle Obama and Melinda French Gates to launch the 'Get Her There' campaign. This campaign aims to help teenage girls get the education and support they need to succeed.

Personal Life

Clooney with her husband George Clooney in 2022.

Amal Clooney is a British citizen. She speaks English, French, and some Arabic.

In 2013, she met the American actor George Clooney. They got engaged in April 2014 and married in Venice, Italy, on September 27, 2014. They live in a home on an island in the River Thames in England.

In June 2017, Amal gave birth to twins, a girl named Ella and a boy named Alexander.

Awards and Recognition

Amal Clooney has received many awards for her work in law and human rights.

See also

In Spanish: Amal Clooney para niños

• Lebanese people in the United Kingdom
• List of Druze