Just two years ago, Amal Alamuddin wasn't exactly a name on everyone's lips.

But since her marriage to George Clooney, the human rights lawyer has been catapulted into the global spotlight – and now finds herself being courted by world leaders.

In her latest high-profile meeting, Mrs Clooney accompanied her husband for talks over coffee with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss the migration crisis engulfing Europe.

Ears in high places: German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts British human rights barrister Amal Clooney and Hollywood actor George Clooney for talks at the Chancellery in Berlin on the migration crisis engulfing Europe

The couple discussed 'refugee policies' and their involvement in the group International Rescue Committee

The couple, who were in the capital to attend the Berlinale film festival, used their privileged access to discuss 'refugee policies' and their work with the aid group International Rescue Committee.

Before her marriage to Mr Clooney in September 2014, the Lebanese-born barrister had forged a highly successful career in her own right, specialising in human rights and international law.

Among her previous roles she served as an adviser to Kofi Annan in his role as a UN special adviser for Syria and also represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in his extradition proceedings.

But in recent months, Mrs Clooney has found herself taking her expertise right to the doorsteps of world leaders.

Her meeting with Merkel comes just three weeks after she was hosted by David Cameron at 10 Downing Street, where the British Prime Minister listened intently for an hour as she urged him to help her free the jailed former president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed.

The pair were accompanied at the 40-minute meeting by David Miliband (left), the former British foreign secretary who heads the International Rescue Committee with which the couple are involved

Mr and Mrs Clooney were in the German capital to attend the Berlinale film festival, which this year also puts Europe's refugee influx in the spotlight

The Hollywood star said he would also meet a group of asylum seekers 'to talk about and ask what messages and what things we can do... to help'

It was also a case that saw her square up to Cherie Blair, the barrister wife of Tony Blair, who has been hired to represent the Maldivian government.

Mrs Clooney also met with U.S. Senator John McCain and other lawmakers last month in an attempt to lobby Congress to level sanctions against the Maldives unless they release political prisoners.

Mr Nasheed, 48, was the first democratically-elected president of the Maldives, but he was deposed in a coup in 2012 and was sentenced to 13 years in jail last March after he was convicted under anti-terrorism laws of ordering the arrest of an allegedly corrupt judge.

The UN ruled in October that his incarceration was unjust and there is growing international pressure for him to be permanently released and pardoned by the country's hardline dictator Abdulla Yameen.

Mrs Clooney's meeting with Merkel comes just three weeks after she was hosted by David Cameron at 10 Downing Street (above), where the British Prime Minister listened intently for an hour as she urged him to help her free the jailed former president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed (left)

Amal Clooney is guided by the president of the Acropolis museum Dimitris Pantermalis during a visit at the museum in Athens. She became the public face of the legal wrangle between Britiain and Greece over the disputed ownership of the Elgin Marbles when she took a role as adviser to the Greek government

But representatives of Mrs Blair's legal team for the Maldivian government argue the former president was fairly convicted of an offence of the 'utmost seriousness' by the courts and say calls for sanctions are 'inappropriate'.

Mrs Clooney had met Mr Cameron before at the House of Commons in June last year to discuss the same case.

She is also understood to have had dinner with then Labour leader Ed Miliband last year.

Mr Miliband was invited to the exclusive gathering at the London home of top human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson to be briefed on proposals to introduce fresh sanctions against Russia.

Mrs Clooney called for the UK government to introduce US-style travel restrictions on Russian citizens allegedly behind the murder of whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky.

The glamorous barrister also became the public face of the legal wrangle between the British and Greek governments over the disputed ownership of the Elgin Marbles.

Mrs Clooney had been hired by Greece to advise the state ahead of a possible court case aimed at forcing the British Museum to give up the sculptures, which came from the Parthenon temple.

Amal Clooney and Lawyer Geoffrey Robertson arrive for a hearing at the European Court of Human Rights

George Clooney is flanked by his wife Amal Alamuddin as they leave the Aman luxury Hotel on their wedding day in Venice, Italy, in September 2014

She and her husband are among the most high-profile campaigners to push publicly for the return of the Marbles to Greece.

Last year, Mrs Clooney and other lawyers from Doughty Street Chambers delivered a 150-page report to the Greek government advising them on their legal options.

One suggestion was to challenge the UK's possession of the monuments at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

However, the far-Left Greek government announced in December that it will not launch a legal action against the UK – and dropped her services.

The Oxford graduate completed her Masters of Law at New York University and worked in the city at the firm Sullivan & Cromwell.

She returned to London in 2010, joining Doughty Street Chambers as a barrister.