WHEN it emerged recently that Amal Clooney was moving to New York for a few months, the gossip columnists and fashion bloggers assumed the world’s most famous newlywed was simply trailing after her Hollywood husband George.
Yet Mrs Clooney will not be there just to mop her husband’s brow between shooting scenes of his new film, Money Monster. The internationally recognised human rights lawyer is to spend her time in Manhattan lecturing in human rights law at the renowned Columbia Law School.
An announcement from the university late on Friday confirmed that the glamorous 37-year-old, who married the heart-throb actor last September at a lavish ceremony in Italy, will serve as a visiting fellow at the law school’s human rights institute for the spring term.
“It is an honour to be invited as a visiting professor at Columbia Law School alongside such a distinguished faculty and talented student pool,” Clooney said. “I look forward to getting to know the next generation of human rights advocates studying here.”
Although she shot to international fame thanks to her husband, the Lebanon-born barrister was already a global superstar in the legal world under her maiden name Amal Alamuddin. She has served as an adviser to Kofi Annan, the former secretary-general of the United Nations and represented Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in his extradition hearings.
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At present, she is representing Mohamed Fahmy, an Al Jazeera journalist sentenced last year in Egypt on charges that include spreading lies to help a terrorist organisation.
Since she first began dating Clooney, the London-based barrister became a focus of attention for her fashion sense as much as her work. A number of internet blogs have been set up dedicated to her style.
Since the couple arrived in New York a few weeks ago, their every move has been trailed by paparazzi — and the location of each meal and cocktail detailed in the gossip pages.
While apparently enjoying the attention, Clooney has attempted to keep the focus on her work.
Before a recent case at the European Court of Human Rights she was asked if she was wearing Versace. “No, Ede & Ravenscroft,” she replied, name-checking the firm that has been manufacturing barristers’ robes since 1689.
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Professor Sarah H. Cleveland, the Louis Henkin professor of human and constitutional rights at the university, said: “We are privileged to have an international human rights practitioner of Amal Clooney’s stature join our faculty.”
She added that Clooney’s experience in dealing with the UN would “enrich the experience of our students”.