Doughty Street rookie greeted by adoring crowds and ceremonial drummers in Maldives as peers return to Southwark Crown Court chaos after August break
Five-year call public law barrister Amal Clooney received a global superstar’s welcome yesterday as she arrived in the Maldives to represent the country’s jailed former president Mohamed Nasheed.
Thank u, Amal Clooney for coming all the way to #Maldives to help free pres Nasheed from his unlawful imprisonment pic.twitter.com/Um0MjnUEpI
— Imthiyaz Fahmy (@Imthiyazfahmy) September 7, 2015
The Doughty Street junior, whose greeting committee included a team of ceremonial drummers, took on the case having last weekend been in court in Cairo acting for jailed Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy. Clooney, who completed the Bar Professional Training Course in 2010, had popped over to Egypt from Ibiza via Lake Como in Italy, where she had been holidaying with actor hubby George.
Meanwhile, back in London, dozens of Clooney’s rookie lawyer peers spent the morning queuing round the block at Southwark Crown Court having returned from the August break.
Southwark Crown Court the place to be this morning pic.twitter.com/PDC9b5UL46
— Jeremy Hodges (@jeremylawhodges) September 7, 2015
Insiders tell Legal Cheek that a lack of security guards — an increasingly regular occurrence in the cash-strapped courts of England & Wales — was behind the hold-up. Worse for put upon junior barristers, reports have reached us that QCs caught up in the delay were queue jumping, with several apparently taking advantage of their senior status to use the “cut and chat method” popularised in Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Previously:
The Judge Rules: Amal — she’s famous for being a film star’s wife. Get over it [Legal Cheek]