Washington Lawyer September/October 2026
By Sarah Kellogg
David Tafuri has built a consequential career in modern international law — a practice situated not in the comfort of conference rooms or predictable corporate transactions, but in the unstable spaces where governments collapse, democratic movements emerge, and the rule of law hangs in the balance.
For decades, Tafuri, partner and international group co-leader at ArentFox Schiff LLP, has advised governments, multinational corporations, nonprofits, and reform movements in some of the world's most volatile places: Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, and Central America.
Yet what distinguishes Tafuri most sharply from many legal practitioners is not merely his international reach, but the ethical architecture underpinning his career. He has often chosen to work with emerging democracies and democratic insurgencies, while also setting strict boundaries about not representing autocratic regimes and dictators.
"In my experience, the most important determinant of whether a country will be stable, secure, and capable of meeting the aspirations of its people is whether it adheres to the rule of law," says Tafuri, who has been assisting U.S.-based companies and nonprofits in providing aid and assistance in Ukraine since Russia's invasion. "We have to spread the rule of law across the world."
Finding His Future Direction
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Tafuri did not emerge from a family of attorneys. Instead, his path toward law grew out of an early attraction to politics, history, and debate. While attending Emory University, he participated in a semester-long program in Washington, D.C., that proved transformative. He worked on Capitol Hill in the office of U.S. Rep. Bill Gradison, introducing him to the machinery of government and igniting a lasting affection for the District itself.
Law school at Georgetown University soon followed, where an influential professor of public international law helped solidify Tafuri's future direction. Said professor warned him that becoming a genuine practitioner of public international law is extraordinarily difficult, but also uniquely meaningful for those who manage to enter the field. "It's really, really hard to get a job in public international law," Tafuri recalls his professor saying. "But if you do, you'll love it."
Before formally beginning practice in 2008 at the law firm now known as Squire Patton Boggs, Tafuri persuaded his prospective employer to grant him a year away from corporate law. He used the time to join the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Ankara, Turkey, where he helped evaluate political asylum claims and investigate human rights complaints by refugees, many of whom were Kurdish. "I first got exposed to the Middle East living in Turkey, working with dissidents from Iran and Iraq," Tafuri says. "I loved that experience, and I learned so much."
When Tafuri returned home and began working at Squire Patton Boggs, the firm was among the earliest American legal practices to establish a significant Middle East presence, with offices in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. But it was the Iraq War that redirected the trajectory of Tafuri's career.
At a moment when the war appeared to be deteriorating and violence was reaching catastrophic levels, Tafuri left Washington again, joining the U.S. Department of State and volunteering to serve in Iraq in 2006. Assigned as the rule of law coordinator for Iraq during one of the most dangerous phases of the conflict, he was involved in efforts to construct the legal foundations of a functioning democratic state.
"I was doing everything from working on implementing laws under the constitution to just figuring out how to get armored cars for judges who were under tremendous threat," he says.
The Iraq experience helped Tafuri develop his professional philosophy. In Baghdad, he witnessed how fragile democratic institutions can be when confronted by violence, sectarianism, and corruption. He also saw how essential legal frameworks are to preserving stability and economic development. "If you can figure out how to get things done in Iraq during a war, it really teaches you how to operate in a challenging environment," says Tafuri.
Building on the Iraq Experience
Tafuri used his experience in Iraq to create a unique international practice. He advised companies entering post-war Iraq, helped establish investment councils focused on reconstruction, and developed relationships with both the Iraqi government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil.
As his commercial work expanded, Tafuri also focused on countries undergoing democratic transition. That focus became especially apparent during the Arab Spring, beginning in late 2010. When Libya descended into civil war and rebel forces sought international support for their fight against the 42-year dictatorship of Muammar Qaddafi, Tafuri was one of the only D.C. lawyers willing to align themselves with the democratic opposition. The Libyan rebels lacked resources and could not afford to pay for elite legal representation. Tafuri persuaded Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., then-chair of his firm, to allow him to represent the rebels for free initially.
"I said, 'Look, I think this is worth us doing pro bono,'" Tafuri says. "I think they're going to win, and I think if they win, there will be other opportunities for the firm."
After then-Libyan ambassador to the United States Ali Aujali defected from Qaddafi's regime and lost access to embassy facilities, Tafuri's firm effectively became the operational base for Libya's diplomatic representation in the District. "We actually had what was essentially the Libyan embassy in Patton Boggs' offices," Tafuri says. "The ambassador was working there, and he was my client."
When the Qaddafi regime ultimately fell, the new Libyan authorities retained the firm formally to assist with the country's democratic transition. The episode cemented Tafuri's international reputation as a lawyer willing to support democratic movements before victory was assured.
Moving to the D.C. office of Dentons in 2015, Tafuri focused on emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. When ArentFox Schiff sought to expand its public international law and sovereign practice, it hired Tafuri in 2021. Over the past five years, Tafuri's guiding philosophy has shaped his work in Syria and Ukraine. As Syria descended deeper into civil war, Tafuri worked with groups and organizations opposing Bashar Hafez al-Assad and seeking democratic reform. Though Syria's democratic transition stalled for years amid violence and fragmentation, Tafuri stayed involved long after many Westerners had disengaged.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Tafuri again assumed the role he had played in Libya, acting as a pro bono adviser and advocate for a democratic government under threat. He has traveled to Ukraine seven times since 2022, which included visits near the front lines, while also advising American companies exploring Ukraine investments.
Throughout these engagements, Tafuri has maintained an ethical framework for operating at the highest levels of global commerce and diplomacy. He refuses to represent dictatorships and autocratic governments, a limitation he sees as essential to preserving credibility with democratic clients and reform movements.
Preserving Rule of Law
Today, Tafuri, who frequently appears as a news network analyst and commentator and often posts reports of his trips to conflict zones on social media, believes the world is entering an era defined by an intensifying contest between rule of law democracies and authoritarian kleptocracies. Countries in political transition, he argues, represent critical battlegrounds in that struggle.
"These countries, whether in the Middle East, Africa, or Asia, are teetering," he says. "It's really important that they lean toward democracy and rule of law, and not toward autocracy."
Without functioning courts, enforceable contracts, independent judiciaries, and transparent governance, Tafuri believes that neither democracy nor capitalism can survive.
"I didn't become a lawyer just to have lots of clients and make lots of money," Tafuri says. "I became a lawyer because I wanted to have an impact on the world."
In an era when many global advisers operate safely from a distance, Tafuri has built a career by moving toward instability, convinced that "the most consequential legal work often occurs precisely where institutions are weakest and the stakes are highest."
Sarah Kellogg is a freelance writer based in the Washington, D.C., area.
