About

Tauna Szymanski, Esq.

Tauna Szymanski founded Szymanski Strategies in 2019 after a 20-year career in the climate change and renewable energy fields. For 13 years, she represented Fortune 50 multinational corporations, local governments, nonprofit organizations, individual investors, energy companies, hedge funds, and other clients as a member of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP's (formerly Hunton & Williams LLP) top-ranked environmental law team. Her practice involved high-profile carbon and renewable energy transactions, rulemaking proceedings, regulatory compliance, and appellate litigation. Early in her legal career, she spent two years in London, England, negotiating carbon trading agreements for a large multinational financial institution. Before law school, Tauna was a US-China government relations and business consultant.

Professional Recognition

Tauna has been recognized as a leading lawyer by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Super Lawyers, Who’s Who Legal, and Law360.

Pro Bono and Volunteer Work

Before launching Szymanski Strategies, Tauna maintained an active pro bono special education and disability rights practice. She served as lead counsel for amicus curiae National Disability Rights Network in the US Supreme Court case of Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools, 137 S. Ct. 743 (2017), which unanimously affirmed the ability of students with disabilities to enforce their civil rights. She received the E. Randolph Williams Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service from her firm in 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2017.

Tauna volunteers substantial time and effort to promoting equity-based inclusive education. She founded and chairs the 275+ member Arlington Inclusion Task Force, which works collaboratively with her local school district to make its instructional delivery and student support models more inclusive. She is a member of her local Special Education Advisory Committee and Special Education Parent-Teacher Association (SEPTA), a vice-chair of the Arlington Public Schools Advisory Council on Instruction, and a member of the steering committee of the statewide inclusion task force, Including Me in Virginia.

Personal Background

Tauna spent most of her childhood as an expatriate, and has lived in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Burma, Israel, Spain, and the United Kingdom. She resides with her family in the Washington, D.C. area. She has substantial personal and familial experience with disability.

Education

• JD, Stanford Law School, Editor-in-Chief, Stanford Environmental Law Journal
• MPA, MA, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Economics and Public Policy; Urban and Regional Planning
• BA, International Relations and Environmental and Technology Studies, Carleton College, magna cum laude

Bar Admissions

Tauna is licensed to practice in New York and the District of Columbia and is a member of the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit.

As a federal practitioner, she advises on ADA and IDEA matters around the country.