‘Lottery Lawyer’ Wins Bronze, MVP Award In Israel

Photo courtesy of CertilmanBalin Attorneys
Jason Kurland is pictured with his three children, from left, Grant, Gale and Gillian.

By Joseph Marasciullo
info@longislandergroup.com

Dix Hills’ “lottery lawyer” doubles as an ice hockey fanatic, and he recently helped the USA Masters team win bronze at the 20th annual Maccabiah games held in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Jason Kurland, Esq., who has earned the nickname by representing large jackpot winners across the country, suited up as goaltender for the U.S. team during the tournament, July 5-14. The team defeated Israel and fell to both Canada and Ukraine. Kurland earned an MVP award for his performance against Ukraine.

The Maccabiah games, founded in 1932, are held each year in Israel and draw athletes from across the world. The 20th edition of the tournament featured 10,000 athletes from 80 different countries, making it the third largest sporting event in the world behind only the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup.

“Israel is an amazing country, and the entire two weeks was an experience of a lifetime,” Kurland said.

When he’s not helping lottery winners manage their newfound fortune, Kurland spends much of his free time playing ice hockey. He said he’s been an avid hockey player all his life, playing all through his childhood and at Skidmore College, where he also played baseball.

He was picked up by the U.S. team this year, and traveled to Boston and Chicago for practices. He was playing once a week through February, when he started to ramp up his training to four days a week.

Off the ice, Kurland, a partner at East Meadow-based full-service law firm Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman, dishes out advice to lottery winner. He says they should surround themselves with three people: legal counsel, an accountant and a financial planner. The first thing he does when he meets a new winner is get a sense of what they want, both financially and emotionally, he said.