Famed human rights lawyer Amal Clooney only gets assigned high profile cases because of her marriage to husband George Clooney, the Tory justice minister has reportedly said.
Mrs Clooney, a London-based Lebanese-British lawyer, regularly features at top-tier courts in the UK, US and at the European Court of Human Rights, having represented clients including Julian Assange and one of the Al Jazeera journalists detained in Egypt.
Both an Oxford University and New York University School of Law graduate, Clooney has also lectured at The Hague Academy of International Law.
But her achievements as one of the world's most well-known lawyers, which long predate her year-long marriage to Hollywood husband George Clooney, is due to her celebrity's spouse's status instead, Edward Faulks QC reportedly claimed.
“I’m sure she gets such high-profile cases and everyone wants her because she’s married to George Clooney. And by employing her they’ll give publicity to their case,’ he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
Lord Faulks, pictured left, decried Clooney's suceess
“I mean, look at Cherie Blair – being married to Tony Blair didn’t do her career any harm.”
But Geoffrey Robertson QC, a similarly renowned human rights barrister and the head of Doughty Street Chambers, where Clooney practices, rubbished the suggestions as "demonstrably false".
He praised her "exceptional" 15-year career in international law and added that Clooney often acted in low profile cases and on a pro-bono basis too.
Responding to the remarks, he said: "Before she was invited to join Doughty Street Chambers five years ago, on the grounds that she was an ‘exceptional' lawyer, she had done ten years of exceptional work in international law including some time at a leading US law firm and then at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic and on the prosecution of those suspected of the terrorist murder of the Lebanese Prime Minister.
Amal Clooney representing Canadian Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy (unseen) pictured talking to the press
"Before her marriage, she had served as a Senior Advisor to Kofi Annan when he was the UN Special Envoy for Syria and was counsel to a UN inquiry into the legality of drone warfare.
"She had represented parties at the International Court of Justice, including the Government of Cambodia in a border dispute with Thailand...
"It was because of her conspicuous ability as an international lawyer that the Attorney-General appointed her in 2013 - before her marriage - to serve on his panel of experts to advise and represent this country."
The latest outcry comes after the Associated Press penned a tweet about Clooney, choosing not to identify her by her many achievements but instead by her marriage to actor George Clooney.
The post prompted outrage from social media users who accused the news agency of sexism.
Lord Faulks' office did not responded to a request for comment by the time this story went live.