Elizabeth J. Cabraser

San Francisco • Litigation

Elizabeth J. Cabraser specializes in managing complex, high-stakes cases that address serious public health and safety concerns. Her role in the National Prescription Opiate Litigation and the In re McKinsey & Co. Inc., National Prescription Opiate Consultant Litigation underscores her prominence in tackling the opioid crisis.

In City and County of San Francisco et al. v. Purdue Pharma, she was part of a team representing San Francisco against opioid manufacturers, dispensers and distributors. With her help, the team secured settlement with some defendants for $54 million last July. Next was Walgreens Pharmacy, which agreed to pay the city $230 million after a bench trial court found the company liable for contributing to the opioid crisis.

Cabraser's acknowledgment of the limitations of legal remedies in providing complete redress for harms caused, while still pursuing justice relentlessly, speaks to her commitment to civil rights and public welfare.

"We know that what we can do is both necessary and insufficient. So we do what we can," Cabraser said. "This is a challenge and dilemma long familiar to those who have labored in the fields of civil rights and human rights, and every day, I thank and praise them for their strength and perseverance and perspective now that I have experienced a bit of what they have faced."

Her leadership and expertise have not only shaped the course of her law firm, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, but have also influenced the broader legal landscape, particularly in the realm of multidistrict litigation.

"We face ongoing challenges: emissions pollution, industry-exacerbated climate change, chemical contamination that endangers public health and safety," Cabraser said. "And we do what we can, with what we have, to get what we can to help address it."

Her insights into the trends in complex litigation, including the growing judicial interest in MDLs and the proactive measures being taken by law schools and the federal judiciary to adapt to contemporary challenges, highlight the evolving nature of legal practice in response to societal issues. Cabraser noted an increase in judges wanting to serv as MDL judges.

"Law schools are now providing MDL courses, like those at Berkeley and Yale," she said. "The MDL Panel and the Federal Judicial Center are actively educating and recruiting new MDL judges. The Civil Rules Committee is considering a case management rule specifically for MDLs. This is how, without growing the size of our federal judiciary (which Congress seems unwilling to do) we grow its ability to address and remedy the scope of 21st Century harms."