[2] Kurzban was the first recipient of the Tobias Simon Pro Bono Award,[3] presented by the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court.

In 1986, Kurzban was selected by Newsweek magazine in their commemorative issue on the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, as one of 100 American heroes for his work on behalf of immigrants.

He was also called a "legend in the field" and listed among the world's most highly regarded individuals in the International Who's Who of Corporate Immigration Lawyers.

He recently prevailed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, after a 23-year battle, to gain U.S. citizenship for English-born rapper Slick Rick.

After Aristide was forced from office and cast into exile, Kurzban has served as the former president's personal attorney in the United States.

[11] Kurzban's involvement with the Aristide government was extremely controversial,[12] as U.S. Department of Justice filings revealed that Kurzban's law firm earned[13] nearly $5 million for its lobbying work alone during Aristide's 2001 to 2004 second term, a time during which the government was accused of serious human rights abuses and Aristide was named an "international press freedom predator"[14] by the press freedom group Reporters sans frontières.