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Lawyers jump to Amal Clooney’s defence after she’s ripped to shreds by national press

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By Katie King on

Barristers: 1, “Well-known human rights experts” at the Daily Mail: 0

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Lawyers have come out fighting against the “well-known human rights experts” over at the Daily Mail, after a notoriously opinionated journalist turned on one of their own and described Amal Clooney as “Kim Kardashian with a law degree”.

Jan Moir pulled no punches when she penned the scathing opinion piece, titled “God save us all from Amal Clooney the attention-seeker!”

The mean-spirited article begins by calling out the Doughty Street barrister for breaking “the golden rule of red carpet etiquette” — upstaging Julia Roberts and other Hollywood stars at this year’s Cannes film festival. Moir accused the “hair-tossing, cheek-sucking barrister” of stealing all the attention, seemingly because her dress “refused to behave”, and blew up in the wind revealing “every inch of her flamingo legs”. Moir asks:

Who on earth could compete with this knicker-flashing fiesta?

Though Clooney’s gown is — in Moir’s words – “an eye-popping, lemon meringue pie of a dress”, by a strange coincidence the Daily Mail article also features a ‘femail fashion finder’ ad offering readers cheaper, high street alternatives that emulate the lawyer’s “stylish”, “belle of the ball” look.

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But Moir’s criticisms of Clooney do not begin and end with her Cannes attire. The newspaper columnist makes constant jibes at the human rights specialist’s appearance throughout the article, calling the Oxford graduate — who was previously named the “hottest woman barrister in London” — “knock-kneed” and an over-dresser.

For the tabloid newspaper’s loyal commenters, Moir’s opinion of the former commercial solicitor hits the nail on the head. The top-rated comment on the article reads “Spot on, Jan. Well said!!”, while another says “Amal is beyond irritating and not the least bit attractive.”

But, perhaps unsurprisingly, the legal profession is less than impressed by the hate piece.

Some have taken issue with the article’s sexist undertones.

Fellow Doughty Street barrister Caoilfhionn Gallagher was quick to point out that Moir is a former winner of the highly acclaimed “bigot of the year” award:

Others have poked fun at the article’s sketchy grasp of the English legal system, pulling out this hilarious line:

[Clooney] works for the right-on, Left-wing Doughty Chambers in London, a set of self-regarding high-achievers who like to call themselves human rights lawyers, but surely all law is human rights?

That’s not the case, as any first year law student will tell you — as has human rights lawyer (and notorious Daily Mail antagonist) Shoaib Khan: