From the start, lawyers figured prominently in the events that helped define the Iraq war.

In the days after the conflict began on March 20, 2003, with the infamous "shock-and-awe" bombing of Baghdad, an Iraqi lawyer from Nasiriyah named Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief helped the U.S. military rescue high-profile prisoner-of-war Jessica Lynch. Rehaief, who successfully sought asylum in the United States and worked briefly for a lobbying firm, later wrote a book about the experience.