Elizabeth J. Cabraser

Partner

San Francisco

Practice Areas: Consumer Protection, Defective Products, International and Human Rights, Personal Injury/Torts, Securities and Financial

Bar Information

Admitted to practice in California (1978); California Supreme Court (1978); U.S. Supreme Court (1996); U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (1978), Eastern District of California (1979); U.S. District Court, Central District of California and Southern District of California (1992); U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan (2005); U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit (2009), Third Circuit (1994), Fifth Circuit (1992), Sixth Circuit (1992), Seventh Circuit (2001), Ninth Circuit (1979), Tenth Circuit (1992) and Eleventh Circuit (1992); U.S. Tax Court (1979); and U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii (1986).

Education

Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California (J.D., 1978); University of California at Berkeley (A.B., 1975).

Awards & Honors

"Northern California Super Lawyer," Law & Politics, 2004-2009; "Top 100 Northern California Super Lawyer," Law & Politics, 2005-2009; "Top 50 Female Northern California Super Lawyer," Law & Politics, 2005-2009; The Best Lawyers in America, 2005-2010; "Edward Pollock Award," Consumer Attorneys of California, 2008; University of San Francisco School of Law Public Interest Law Foundation "Award For Public Interest Excellence," 2007; "50 Most Influential Women Lawyers in America," The National Law Journal, 1998 & 2007; "Top 100 Lawyers," California Daily Journal, 2002-2007; "Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America," Lawdragon, 2007-2008; "Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiffs' Lawyers," Lawdragon, Winter 2007; "Top Women Litigators in California," The San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily Journal, 2007;  "100 Most Influential Lawyers in America," The National Law Journal, 1997, 2000 & 2006; "Top 75 Women Litigators," California Daily Journal, 2005-2006; Distinguished Leadership Award, Legal Community Against Violence, 2006; Women of Achievement, Legal Momentum (formerly the NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund), 2006; "Top 30 Securities Litigator," California Daily Journal, 2005; "Top 50 Women Litigators," California Daily Journal, 2004; Citation Award, University of California, Berkeley Boalt Hall, 2003; "Top 30 Women Litigators," California Daily Journal, 2002; Distinguished Jurisprudence Award, Anti-Defamation League, 2002; "Top Ten Women Litigators," The National Law Journal, 2001; "California Law Business Top 100 Lawyers," California Daily Journal, 1998-2000; Matthew O.  Tobriner Public Service Award, Legal Aid Society, 2000; Presidential Award of Merit, Consumer Attorneys of California, 1998; "Lawyers of the Year," California Lawyer, 1998; Public Justice Achievement Award, Public Justice, 1997.

Publications

Author, "Due Process Pre-Empted: Stealth Preemption As a Consequence of Agency Capture," (2009); “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); 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 and June 2005); Author, "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 Fabrice N. Vincent, "Class Actions Fairness Act of 2005," California Litigation, Vol. 18, No. 3 (2005); Editor-in-Chief, California Class Actions Practice and Procedures (2003); 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); co-author, "2004 ABA Toxicology Monograph-California State Law," (January 2004); "Human Rights Violations as Mass Torts: Compensation as a Proxy for Justice in the United States Civil Litigation System"; 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); co-author, with Fabrice N. Vincent, "The Shareholder Strikes Back: Varied Approaches to Civil Litigation Claims Are Available to Help Make Shareholders Whole,"Mealey's Emerging Securities Litigation Reporter (September 2002); Coordinating Editor and co-author of California section of the ABA State Class Action Survey (2001-02); "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); "Symposium: Enforcing the Social Contract through Representative Litigation," 33 Connecticut Law Review 1239 (Summer 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," in Civil Practice and Litigation Techniques in Federal and State Courts (ALI-ABA Course of Study 1999); Contributor/Editor, Moore's Federal Practice (1999); "Life After Amchem: The Class Struggle Continues," 31 Loyola Law Review 373 (1998); "Recent Developments in Nationwide Products Liability Litigation: The Phenomenon of Non-Injury Products Cases, the Impact of Amchem and the Trend Toward State Court Adjudication," Products Liability (ABA February 1998); Contributor/Editor, California Causes of Action (1998); "Beyond Bifurcation: Multi-Phase Structure in Mass Tort Class Actions," Class Actions & Derivative Suits (Spring 1997); "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); "Mass Tort Class Action Settlements," 24 CTLA Forum 11 (Jan./Feb. 1994); "Do You Know the Way from San Jose? The Evolution of Environmental and Toxic Nuisance Class Actions," Class Actions & Derivative Suits (Spring 1994); "An Oracle of Change? Realizing the Potential of Emerging Fee Award Methodologies for Enhancing The Role and Control of Investors in Derivative and Class Action Suits," Principles of Corporate Governance (ALI October 1994); "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).

Member

California State Bar Association; American Bar Association (Past Co-Chair, Committee on Mass Torts; Committee on Class Actions and Derivative Suits; Tort and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS); Past Vice-Chair, Rules & Procedures Committee, Contributor, Civil Procedure & Evidence News Letter; Business Law Section, Corporate & Litigation Group; Litigation Section and Committee on Class Actions and Derivative Suits; Co-Chair, Committee on Mass Torts); ABA National Institute on Class Actions (Organizer/ Participant, 1997-2000); American Law Institute, (Council; Advisor, American Law Institute International Jurisdiction and Judgments and Aggregate Litigation Projects); Public Justice; National Center for State Courts Mass Tort Conference Planning Committee; Federal Bar Association, Northern District of California Chapter; Fight for Justice Campaign; (California State Liaison, Women Trial Lawyers Caucus); California Constitution Revision Commission, 1993-1996; Northern District of California Civil Justice Reform Act (CJRA) Advisory Committee, and Advisory Committee on Professional Conduct; Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC); California Women Lawyers; Association of Business Trial Lawyers; Lawyer Delegate, Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, 1992 1995; Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit; Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom; Bar Association of San Francisco (Past President, Securities Litigation Section; Board of Directors, 1997-1998; Past Member, Judiciary Committee); Lawyers Club of San Francisco; Queen’s Bench.