Professor Dadush graduated cum laude with a B.A. in economics and political science from Barnard College and received a J.D. and LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from Duke University School of Law. From 2004 to 2008 she worked as an associate attorney at Allen & Overy L.L.P., where she specialized in international investment arbitration and banking transactions. She then spent two years as a fellow with the Institute for International Law and Justice at New York University School of Law, where she administered and contributed to the Institute's research program on financing for development. In 2010, Dadush moved to Rome, Italy where she served as legal counsel and partnership officer for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations. In addition, as an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, she designed and co-taught a course on the architecture of international development for the Rome-based LL.M. Program on the Rule of Law for Development.

Dadush's research focuses on the regulation of social finance, i.e., privately-generated capital flows aimed at solving social and environmental problems in developed and developing nations. Her most recent publications are, "Going Against the Grain: When Private Rules Shouldn't Apply to Public Institutions" (with Rutsel S.J. Martha) in the International Organizations Law Review (2012) and a chapter titled, "Impact Investment Indicators: A Critical Assessment" in Governance By Indicators: Global Power Through Classification and Rankings (2012).