Elizabeth J Cabraser

Practice Areas

Possessing unparalleled expertise in complex civil litigation, Elizabeth has served as court-appointed lead, co-lead, or class counsel in scores of federal multi-district and state coordinated proceedings. These cases include multi-state tobacco, the Exxon Valdez disaster, Breast Implant Injuries, Fen-Phen (Diet Drugs) Injuries, Vioxx Injuries, Toyota sudden acceleration, multiple securities/investment fraud cases, and historic Holocaust reparations litigation. Elizabeth also served in leadership positions in several of the nation’s highest profile recent civil cases, including serving as Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel in the GM ignition switch defect litigation, and as Plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel in the Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” and Fiat Chrysler Ecodiesel Emissions MDLs. She is currently immersed in nationwide Opioids litigation; in 2018 she was appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee and Settlement Negotiating Committee in the National Prescription Opiates MDL, and in 2022 was appointed Plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel in the McKinsey & Co. National Prescription Opiate MDL.

Career

Under Elizabeth Cabraser’s leadership, Lieff Cabraser has become one of the country’s largest law firms serving clients seeking redress for financial and consumer fraud, anti-competitive practices, harmful drugs and products, and illegal employment practices. For over four decades, Elizabeth has made sure that our firm remains dedicated to its clients and its core values.

Elizabeth has repeatedly been recognized as one of the foremost litigators in the U.S., including an unprecedented four-time selection as a “100 Most Influential Lawyer in America” by the National Law Journal, which has called her “a pillar of the plaintiffs’ bar.” A Daily Journal “Top California Woman Lawyer” ever year since 2007, in 2018 Law360 named her a “Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar," the National Trial Lawyers Association selected her for its National Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame, and California Lawyer named her “California Lawyer of the Year” for her work on the Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Emissions Fraud case. In 2017, Elizabeth received the National Law Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award and was named “Plaintiff Attorney of the Year” by Benchmark Litigation, which noted that she “is known nationwide for having handled some of the largest class actions in US history, as well as being one the firm’s -- and the country’s -- foremost trial lawyers.”

Professional Memberships

-American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Fellow)

-American Constitution Society, Board of Advisors

-American Association for Justice (Fight for Justice Campaign; Women Trial Lawyers -Caucus; California State Liaison)

-American Bar Association (Committee on Mass Torts, Past Co-Chair; Committee on Class -Actions and Derivative Suits; Tort and Insurance Practice Section; Rules & Procedures Committee, Past Vice-Chair; Civil Procedure & Evidence News Letter, Contributor; Business Law Section)

-American Law Institute (1993 – present; Council, 1999 – present; Adviser, the Restatement Third, Consumer Contracts project and the Restatement Third, Torts: Liability for Economic Harm; Members Consultative Group, the Restatement Third, Torts: Liability for Physical Harm; past Adviser, the Recognition & Enforcement of Foreign Judgments project and the Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation project)

-Association of Business Trial Lawyers

-Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit

-Bar Association of San Francisco (Past President, Securities Litigation Section; Board of Directors, 1997 – 1998; Judiciary Committee)

-Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom

-California Constitution Revision Commission (1993 -1996)

-California Women Lawyers

-Consumer Attorneys of California

-Federal Bar Association

-Federal Bar Association (Northern District of California Chapter)

-Federal Civil Rules Advisory Committee (Appointed by Supreme Court, 2011)

-Lawyers Club of San Francisco

-National Center for State Courts (Board Member; Mass Tort Conference Planning Committee)

-National Judicial College (Board of Trustees)

-Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference (Lawyer Delegate, 1992 – 1995)

-Northern District of California Civil Justice Reform Act (Advisory Committee; Advisory Committee on Professional Conduct)

-Northern District of California Civil Justice Reform Act (CJRA) Advisory Committee

-Public Justice Foundation

-Queen’s Bench

-State Bar of California

Publications

-Editor-in-Chief, California Class Actions Practice and Procedures, LexisNexis, Updated Annually

-Executive Editor, ABA Section of Litigation, Survey of Federal Circuit Courts’ Class Action Decisions – 2018

-Co-author with Samuel Issacharoff, “The Participatory Class Action,” New York University Law Review, Vol. 92 (October 2017)

-“Punitive Damages,” Proving and Defending Damage Claims, Chapter 8, Aspen Publishers, Updated Annually

-“The Class Abides: Class Actions and the ‘Roberts Court’,” Akron Law Review: Vol. 48: Iss. 4, Article 3

-“Symposium: Enforcing the Social Contract through Representative Litigation,” 33 Connecticut Law Review 1239, Summer 2011

-“When Worlds Collide: The Supreme Court Confronts Federal Agencies with Federalism in Wyeth v. Levine,” 84 Tulane L. Rev. 1275, 2010

-“Apportioning Due Process: Preserving The Right to Affordable Justice,” 87 Denver U. L.Rev. 437, 2010

-“Due Process Pre-Empted: Stealth Preemption As a Consequence of Agency Capture,” 65 N.Y.U. Annual Survey of American Law 449, 2010

-Executive Editor, ABA Section of Litigation, Survey of State Class Action Law, 2008-2010

-“Just Choose: The Jurisprudential Necessity to Select a Single Governing Law for Mass Claims Arising from Nationally Marketed Consumer Goods and Services,” Roger Williams University Law Review, Winter 2009

-Coordinating Editor, ABA Section of Litigation, Survey of State Class Action Law, 2006-2007

-“The Manageable Nationwide Class: A Choice-of-Law Legacy of Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts,” University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review, Volume 74, Number 3, Spring 2006

-Co-Author with Joy A. Kruse, Bruce Leppla, “Selective Waiver: Recent Developments in the Ninth Circuit and California” (pts. 1 & 2), Securities Litigation Report, West Legalworks May & June 2005

-Co-Author with Fabrice N. Vincent, “Class Actions Fairness Act of 2005,” California Litigation, Vol. 18, Nov. 3 2005

-Co-Author, “2004 ABA Toxicology Monograph-California State Law,” January 2004

-Co-Author, “Decisions Interpreting California’s Rules of Class Action Procedure,” Survey of -State Class Action Law, updated and re-published in 5 Newberg on Class Actions, ABA 2001 – 2004

-Co-Author, “Mass But Not (Necessarily) Class: Emerging Aggregation Alternatives Under the Federal Rules,” ABA 8th Annual National Institute on Class Actions, New York (Oct. 15, 2004) & New Orleans (Oct. 29, 2004)

-“Human Rights Violations as Mass Torts: Compensation as a Proxy for Justice in the United States Civil Litigation System,” Vanderbilt Law Review, November 2004

-“Mass Tort Class Actions,” ATLA’s Litigating Tort Cases, Vol. 1, Chapter 9, June 2003

-“A Plaintiffs’ Perspective On The Effect of State Farm v. Campbell On Punitive Damages in Mass Torts,” May 2003

-Co-Author with Fabrice N. Vincent, “Ethics and Admissibility: Failure to Disclose Conflicts of Interest in and/or Funding of Scientific Studies and/or Data May Warrant Evidentiary Exclusions,” Mealey’s December Emerging Drugs Reporter, December 2002

-“The Shareholder Strikes Back: Varied Approaches to Civil Litigation Claims Are Available to Help Make Shareholders Whole,” September 2002

-Coordinating Editor/Co-Author, California section, ABA State Class Action Survey, 2001 – 2002

-“Unfinished Business: Reaching the Due Process Limits of Punitive Damages in Tobacco Litigation Through Unitary Classwide Adjudication,” 36 Wake Forest Law Review 979, Winter 2001

-“Equity for the Victims, Equity for the Transgressor: The Classwide Treatment of Punitive Damages Claims,” 74 Tulane Law Review 2005, June, 2000

-“Class Action Trends and Developments After Amchem and Ortiz,” ALI-ABA Course of Study, Civil Practice and Litigation Techniques in Federal and State Courts, 1999

-Contributor/Editor, Moore’s Federal Practice, 1999

-Co-Author, “Preliminary Issues Regarding Forum Selection, Jurisdiction, and Choice of Law in Class Actions,” December, 1999

-“Life After Amchem: The Class Struggle Continues,” 31 Loyola Law Review 373, 1998

Contributor/Editor, California Causes of Action, 1998

-“The Road Not Taken: Thoughts on the Fifth Circuit’s Decertification of the Castano Class,” SB24 ALI-ABA 433, 1996

-“Getting the Word Out: Pre-Certification Notice to Class Members Under Rule 23(d)(2),” Class Actions & Derivative Suits Newsletter, October, 1995

-“How To Streamline Complex Litigation: Tailor a Case Management Order to Your Controversy,” 21 The Brief 12, ABA/TIPS, Summer, 1992

-“The Applicability of the Fraud-On-The-Market Theory to Undeveloped Markets: When Fraud Creates the Market,” 12 Class Action Reports 402, 1989

-“Mandatory Certification of Settlement Classes,” 10 Class Action Reports 151, 1987

Education

Awards