Amal Alamuddin has officially changed her name. I guess. Apparently, her law firm now has her listed as “Amal Clooney.” Whoa. I thought that if there was a name change, it would be hyphenated, like Amal Alamuddin-Clooney. Or they could just bite the bullet and both change their names to Alamooney (which would be amazing). Branding is everything and you have to show loyalty to your brand. That’s why so many people still refer to Duchess Kate as “Kate Middleton” and why I’ll always think of Amal as Amal Alamuddin. I learned how to spell her last name and everything!

Anyway, Amal Clooney (ugh!) has officially gone back to work. The honeymoon is over. First George flew to New York for Comic-Con and now Amal is in Greece, trying to help them get the Parthenon Marbles/Elgin Marbles back from the British Museum.

As she gets back to work, Amal Alamuddin has a big new case – and a new name, too. Listed as “Amal Clooney” on the website for her London-based firm, Doughty Street Chambers, the new wife of George Clooney arrived in Athens, Greece, on Monday to meet with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and various culture officials throughout the week.

Her agenda: discussing Greece’s long-running, ill-fated bid to win back a collection of classical Greek marble sculptures variously known as the Parthenon Marbles or the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum in London. The move comes amid mounting pressure on the British Museum to return the marble masterpieces lining the walls of its Duveen Gallery since British diplomat Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, removed them from the Acropolis more than 200 years ago. Earlier this month and after repeated pleas, UNESCO, the United Nations’ culture organization, called on the British government to enter mediation talks with Greece to settle one of the world’s biggest cultural property disputes.

Clooney, 36, will advise the Greek government on its “legal options,” government officials said. She will be accompanied by a delegation of Doughty Street Chambers barristers led by Geoffrey Robertson, the human rights lawyer who successfully argued for the return of Tasmanian Aboriginal artifacts from Britain’s Natural History Museum. Both were part of a legal team the Greek government approached four years ago in an initial consultation.

“Options,” says Vassilis Tavonis, a senior culture ministry advisor handling the Parthenon Marbles dispute in Athens, “is the operative word dominating this week’s meetings.”

So is “hysteria,” a Greek word gripping the country and international media as Clooney descends on the Greek capital. She isn’t expected to begin talks until Tuesday, but television crews already have been staked out around the airport for hours, with details of her visit dominating the news.

“The media frenzy and uproar alone will be beneficial [for Greece],” says a senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of his proximity to the talks. “It will recast international attention on the case [of the Parthenon Marbles] and the injustice that has been done.”

It’s unclear whether Athens will hire Amal Clooney and her London-based firm for the mediation talks. By some accounts, cash-strapped Greece was unable to pay the legal team’s consultation fee four years ago, at the height of the country’s fiscal crisis. Now, though, Clooney is returning with one strict request: that the government in Athens stick to business alone, refraining from offering her – or her husband – even a token wedding gift.

[From People]

Hm. I wonder where George is now? Did he fly back to London to see Amal off? Did he return home to LA? Will he join Amal in Greece? I need to know! Oh, and considering how we’re all new to this name change, can we not refer to Amal as no-first-name “Clooney” just yet? For decades now, whenever People Mag wrote about a “Clooney,” it was George. This is going to take some getting used to.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.