David J. Strachman

David J. Strachman is an American lawyer from Providence, Rhode Island, United States who won a $116 million judgement in a Providence federal court against the PLO, Palestinian Authority, and Hamas for their terrorist activities in Israel.

Early life
Strachman is a 1986 graduate of Brandeis University and a 1990 graduate of Boston University School of Law.

Career
After graduating from Boston University in 1990, Strachman practiced law in East Providence, Rhode Island. By 2000, Strachman law practice included qualifying as guardian of persons and their estates to care for their personal and property interests. In March 2000, one of Strachman's clients, the Unger family, filed a lawsuit against defendants Yasser Arafat, the PLO, and the Islamic group Hamas in Providence because Strachman was the Israeli court appointed executor for the couple's estate and the estate held dual citizenship in America and Israel. Strachman sought $250 million in the civil lawsuit for the June 9, 1996 drive-by shooting murders of Yaron and Efrat Ungar near Bet Shemesh, Israel due to the defendants encouragement of terrorism in the region. Although his law practice did not include international terrorism civil law at the time, Strachman took the position of lead attorney in the United States and with Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, an Israeli attorney, human rights activist, and the founder of Shurat HaDin Israeli Law Center, providing legal support in Israel. In January 2004, Strachman won a judgment against Hamas in the Providence federal court for the Ungar murders and ordered Hamas to pay the families of the Ungars $116 million. In July of that year, Strachman obtained a default judgment against the PNA and the PLO in the same case. Six years later, in 2010, the appeals court overturned the ruling and sent the case back to U.S. District Court to allow the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority to present their side. In February 2011, Strachman obtained a confidential settlement and ended the case.