George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin are rumored to be engaged
Everyone wants to know: Who is Amal Alamuddin and how did she win George Clooney's heart?
The British lawyer is suddenly one of the most talked-about women on the planet following speculation that she and the Oscar-winning actor have gotten engaged.
Although Clooney was married to actress Talia Balsam from 1989 to 1993, he's become better known since then for dating a steady succession of beautiful women, including Italian actor and model Elisabetta Canalis, actor Renée Zellweger and former WWE diva Stacy Keibler.
But the 52-year-old Clooney seems to have moved into an entirely new league with his relationship with Ms. Alamuddin, who is 36.
So what makes them a good match? Let's start with the superficial. While George Clooney was voted sexiest man alive by People magazine in 2006, Alamuddin was voted the "hottest barrister in London" by the blog called Your Barrister Boyfriend.
And as People Magazine reports, she's big on social media. Before deleting her Twitter page, she had nearly 1,800 followers, including Ashton Kutcher.
Now on to her more impressive accomplishments.
A report in The Telegraph tells us that Alamuddin was born in Beirut, is fluent in English, French and Arabic and studied at St. Hugh's College at Oxford University before crossing the pond to attend the New York University School of Law.
Upon graduation, Alamuddin passed the New York Bar in 2002 and the Bar of England and Wales in 2012. She is currently employed by the London firm of Doughty Street Chambers.
In the legal world, her specialty is international law, human rights, extradition and criminal law. Most recently, she represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in his battle against extradition to Sweden.
Alamuddin also regularly advises governments on points of international law and is an adviser on Syria to The UN special envoy Kofi Annan. She also serves as Counsel to the Inquiry on the use of drones in counter-terrorism operations.
During the 2002-2005 trial of Slobodan Milosevic, Alamuddin assisted the presiding Judge Patrick Robinson. She is also a legal adviser to the King of Bahrain.
In recent years, Ms. Alamuddin has represented clients appearing before the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, as well as repping clients in domestic courts in the U.K. and United States.
And as if that wasn't an impressive enough list of accomplishments: In addition to her ongoing legal responsibilities, Alamuddin has contributed to several books focusing on international criminal law and co-edited The Law and Practice of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. She's also lectured at New York's The New School and The Hague Academy of International Law.