Ira J. Kurzban, Esq.
About
Mr. Kurzban holds J.D. and M.A. Degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. with honors from Syracuse University where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He is also an honorary fellow of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law where he was honored for his exemplified signal service to every aspect of the legal profession. He is also the recipient of the Wasserstein Fellowship at Harvard University Law School and was named the 2020 Recipient of the Leonard J. Theberge Award for Private International Law. Mr. Kurzban has been a founding partner in the law firm of Kurzban, Kurzban, Tetzeli, & Pratt P.A. of Miami, Florida for over 40 years and is the chair of the firm's immigration department.
Mr. Kurzban is a past-national President and former General Counsel of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He has received national recognition for his work in the immigration field. He has been named by the National Law Journal as one of the top twenty immigration lawyers in the United States; he has been listed for over a quarter century in the Best Lawyers in America for his work in immigration and employment law; and he has been listed repeatedly in Lawdragon as one of the top 500 lawyers in the United States. Mr. Kurzban was the first recipient of the Tobias Simon Pro Bono Award presented by the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. He is also the recipient of the Lawyers of the Americas Award for his work on behalf of human rights in this hemisphere given by the University of Miami, the Jack Wasserman Award for excellence in federal litigation and the Edith Lowenstein Memorial Award for excellence in the advancement of immigration law given by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the Carol King Award for his efforts in immigration law given by the National Lawyers Guild. In 1986 Mr. Kurzban was selected by Newsweek Magazine in their commemorative issue on the hundredth anniversary of the Statue of Liberty as one of 100 American heroes for his work on behalf of immigrants. He was also selected by Esquire Magazine as part of America's New Leadership Class. Mr. Kurzban has also been named to Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Law and Who's Who in the World. He was also named as one of the world's twenty three most highly regarded corporate immigration lawyers in the International Who's Who of Corporate Immigration Lawyers and praised as a legend in the field who has written the definitive book on U.S. immigration law. Mr. Kurzban and the firm have been listed in Chambers as first tier lawyers in immigration law in 2021. For the past several years Mr. Kurzban has received Chambers highest ranking as a “star individual.”
Mr. Kurzban has also litigated over 100 federal cases concerning the rights of aliens, including Jean v. Nelson, Commissioner v. Jean, and McNary v Haitian Refugee Center, Inc., all of which he argued before the United States Supreme Court. He has also litigated numerous cases under the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act, including obtaining a $500 million judgment against Jean-Claude Duvalier, the former dictator Haiti.
Mr. Kurzban was also one of the founders of the Berkeley Law Foundation, a non-profit organization providing scholarships for law students and law graduates engaged in significant legal assistance programs throughout the United States. He is also one of the founders of Immigrants' List, the first pro-immigrant political action committee in the United States.
Mr. Kurzban is an adjunct faculty member in Immigration and Nationality Law at the University of Miami School of Law and has lectured and published extensively in the field of immigration law, including articles in the Harvard Law Review, Columbia University Press, the San Diego Law Review and other publications. He is the author of Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook, the most widely used one-volume immigration source in the United States.
Education
- University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Berkeley, California
- J.D.
- University of California, Berkeley
- M.A. in Political Theory
- Syracuse University
- B.A.
- Honors:
With High Honors - Honors:
Phi Beta Kappa
Bar Admissions
- California, 1976
- Florida, 1976
- Iowa, 2008
- New York, 2015
- U.S. Supreme Court, 1980
- U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit
Honors
- 2020 Recipient of the Leonard J. Theberge Award for Private International Law
- Super Lawyers, 2006-Present
- Who’s Who Legal – International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers – Corporate Immigration, 2012
- Nation’s Most Powerful Employment Attorneys – Immigration 2011
- Named “Star Individual” Lawyer in Chambers
- Named in the Best Lawyers in America for Immigration and Employment Law, 1995-Present
- AV Rated with Lexis-Nexis, 2009-Present
- Named one of world’s twenty-three most highly regarded corporate immigration lawyers
- Named by Miami Today as One of the Twenty Best Lawyers in Dade County, Florida
- Named by National Law Journal as One of the Top Twenty Immigration Lawyers in the United States
- First Recipient of the Tobias Simon Award Presented by the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court
- Made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Pennsylvania Law School
- Selected by Esquire Magazine as part of America’s New Leadership Class
- Selected in Newsweek Magazine as one of 100 American Heroes for his work for refugees
- Named one of the top 100 employment lawyers in the US
- Lawdragon – The Leading 500 Lawyers in America
- Florida Legal Elite, 2004-Present
- South Florida Legal Guide – Top Lawyers, 2021
- The Jack Wasserman Award for excellence in federal litigation
- Edith Lowenstein Memorial Award for excellence in the advancement of immigration law given by the American Immigration Lawyers Association
- Carol King Award for his efforts in immigration law given by the National Lawyers Guild
- Named as one of the world’s twenty three most highly regarded corporate immigration lawyers in the International Who’s Who of Corporate Immigration Lawyers
- Recipient of the Lawyers of the Americas Award for his work on behalf of human rights in this hemisphere given by the University of Miami
Resources
- What’s Up Caribbean interview – December 2020
- 41st annual AILA South Florida Immigration Law Conference from February 27th and 28th
Pro-Bono-Activities
- Founder, Berkeley Law Foundation
- Founder, Immigrants’ List PAC and Immigrants List Civic Action, Inc.
Published Works
- Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook
- Democracy and Immigration, Keeping Out the Other, Columbia University Press, 2008
Fraternities Or Sororities
- Phi Beta Kappa
Representative Cases
- Jean v. Nelson, 472 U.S. 846 (1985)
- Commissioner, INS v. Jean, 496 U.S. 154 (1990)
- McNary v. HRC. Inc., 498 U.S. 479 (1991)
Professional Associations
- American Immigration Lawyers Association, Past-President
- American Immigration Lawyers Association, Former General Counsel
- Honorary Fellow, University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Fellow
- Wasserstein Fellowship, Harvard Law School
Past Positioning
- Counsel for the Governments of Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Panama
Languages
- English
- Spanish