Elizabeth Cabraser

2019 Vern Countryman

Elizabeth Cabraser is a partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, based in San Francisco. She 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 Implants, Fen-Phen (Diet Drugs), Vioxx, Toyota sudden acceleration, numerous securities/investment fraud cases, and Holocaust litigation. Today, Elizabeth serves in court-appointed leadership positions in several of the nation’s highest profile civil cases, including serving as Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel in the GM ignition switch defect litigation, as Plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel in the Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” and Fiat Chrysler Ecodiesel Emissions MDLs. She is currently immersed in nationwide Opioids litigation. In January 2018, she was appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee and Settlement Negotiating Committee in the National Prescription Opiates MDL, and earlier this year was appointed Plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel in the McKinsey & Co. National Prescription Opiate MDL.

Elizabeth has been repeatedly recognized as one of the foremost litigators in our nation, including being selected an unprecedented four times as one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America by the National Law Journal, which has called her “a pillar of the plaintiffs’ bar.”

A Daily Journal “Top California Woman Lawyer” 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. Also in 2017, she 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.” The publication also named her to its lists for “Top 10 Women in Litigation,” “Top 250 Women in Litigation,” and “Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America.” The National Law Journal selected Elizabeth as a 2017 “Energy and Environmental Law Trailblazer,” and Chambers and Partners USA named her a “Leader in the Field” for General Litigation (California) and Product Liability (Nationwide).

Long-form bio (click to open pdf).