Sunday Times 2
“My robes”
Most lawyers aren’t faced with a wall of cameras when they walk into court – but despite being there to fight a major human rights case, Amal Clooney took the attention in her stride.
When a reporter joked that she was expected to wear Versace, she pointed at her gown and collar bands before replying: ‘I’m wearing Ede & Ravenscroft’.
Human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney arrives to attend a hearing at the European court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Reuters
The retort, made yesterday at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, was a reference to a firm of London tailors which has been making barristers’ gowns since 1689.
Her remarks quickly gained traction on Twitter, where users praised the respected lawyer’s ability to shrug off the celebrity status she has enjoyed since marrying George Clooney last year.
‘Amal, can I be you, like just for a day at least?’ asked one. Another wrote: ‘Well played!’
The attention even forced the journalist who asked the original question, a political correspondent for 13 years, to write an article responding to the hype.
Bruno Waterfield had sparked the talk by tweeting Mrs Clooney’s response after he asked her about ‘fashion speculation’.
But he insisted he asked her the question ironically – after noting ‘the circus in a court that the media, and certainly paparazzi, are not usually interested in’.
He explained what happened next when he spoke to Mrs Clooney and her colleague, the seasoned human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC.
‘I ask him about the media circus,’ he wrote in the Daily Telegraph. ‘He expresses surprise at the number of photographers in the court. I joke about the frenzy.
‘”I think they expected you turn up in Versace,” I said to her. She replied.’
He added: ‘Mr Robertson said he was was surprised at the rows of photographers.
‘He said he was pleased that coverage of the case would focus attention on Mrs Clooney’s career as a lawyer rather than her private life as the wife of a Hollywood actor and director.’
Mrs Clooney and Mr Robertson were in court to challenge the appeal of Dogu Perinçek, a Turkish politician who denied the killing of 1.5million Armenians in 1915 was genocide.
He was found guilty by a Swiss court in 2008 after saying the killings were an ‘international lie’ and his appeal is now being challenged by Armenia, who have hired Mr Robertson’s London chambers.
The nation argues that denying the 1915 genocide is a crime on par with Holocaust denial.
This April marks the 100th anniversary of the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks.
The killings in 1915 are regarded by many historians as the first genocide of the 20th century, and are said to have inspired Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Turkey rejects the term ‘genocide,’ says the death figure is inflated and that people died on both sides as the Ottoman Empire collapsed amid World War I.
Mrs Clooney is a barrister with the London chamber, specialising in human rights, international law, and extradition.
She speaks three languages fluently – English, French and Arabic – and has represented Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Last year, the accomplished lawyer advised Greece on how to get Britain to return the disputed statues known as the Elgin Marbles.
© Daily Mail, London