TOP ATTORNEYS IN SPECIALIZED FIELDS
IRA KURZBAN
Kurzban also advises regional centers
surrounding USCIS’ interpretation of
immigrant investor laws. He has received
numerous distinctions for his work and
has been listed for over 30 years in the
Best Lawyers In America. Kurzban is an
adjunct faculty member at the University
of Miami School of Law. He has published
articles in the Harvard Law Review and
Columbia University Press and authored
Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook.
He received his J.D. and master’s degree
from the University of California, Berkeley;
and his bachelor’s degree from Syracuse
University. He is a former AILA president
and general counsel.
Partner
Kurzban, Kurzban,
Weinger, Tetzeli & Pratt P.A
I
ra Kurzban is a founding partner of the law
firm of Kurzban, Kurzban, Weinger, Tetzeli &
Pratt P.A. in Miami. Kurzban has been involved
in the EB-5 program since its inception. He
was lead counsel in Chang v. U.S., one of the
most significant decisions involving the EB-5
program. His firm litigates the majority of
federal cases by EB-5 investors against USCIS.
WHAT DO YOU THINK
THE FUTURE OF THE EB-5
INDUSTRY LOOKS LIKE?
I am primarily concerned with current
legislative efforts to curtail the ability of
investors, regional centers and NCEs/JCEs
to sue in federal court when the actions of
USCIS are clearly in error. Recent proposed
legislation would either eliminate or
substantially slow the ability to challenge
USCIS misconduct in federal court. I regard
this trend as contrary to the fundamental
40 Lawyer Under 40” by the National Asian
Pacific American Bar Association along
with being recognized as a “Rising Star” by
Super Lawyers Magazine. He is a former pro
tempore judge for the cities of Lake Forest
Park and Federal Way, and he volunteers
regularly at the International District Legal
Clinic. He has also served as an adjunct
professor in trial advocacy at the University of
Washington and Seattle University. Lee has
served as a board member and officer on
many local organizations.
NELSON LEE
Partner
Lee & Lee P.S.
N
elson Lee, a partner in the Seattle-based Lee
& Lee P.S., leads the firm’s EB-5 team. He and
his team have successfully submitted hundreds
of EB-5 cases since 2010. Lee is a former
senior deputy prosecutor with the King County
Prosecuting Attorney’s Office with more than
100 cases tried successfully before a jury during
his 17-year career, including several complex,
high-profile cases. Lee has been voted a “Top
WHAT DO YOU THINK
THE FUTURE OF THE EB-5
INDUSTRY LOOKS LIKE?
With so many diverse bills to amend the
EB-5 Program introduced in Congress
over the last year, it is impossible to predict
the program’s future. Unless competing
interests between Congressional members
and lobbyists can be reconciled through
reasoned compromise, the ongoing
deadlock seems destined for resolution
by the Department of Homeland Security.
Transparency measures to create broad-
spectrum accountability and integrity
for the protection of investors are long
overdue. The increase in investment
principles of our country because no
person, high or low, is above the law and
certainly no agency of the government may
insulate itself from the harm it may do to
investors and the general public.
WHAT TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING
IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY?
The EB - 5 program , like all federal
immigration programs, is now subject to
the current administration’s policies that
are attempting to grind immigration to
a halt. I foresee that in the next several
years EB-5 investors and regional centers
will be litigating many arbitrary denials. In
addition, many conditional residents will
be put in removal proceedings. We have
successfully countered that trend in a
number of cases by seeking other forms
of relief