Litigation
Jun. 15, 2002
Preserving Dignity
Top 30 Women Litigators - Elizabeth J. Cabraser - Dealing with legal fights over human remains can be a depressing business. But San Francisco attorney Elizabeth J. Cabraser says the lawsuits are among the most challenging and rewarding of the more than 250 class actions on which she has worked.
Elizabeth J. Cabraser
Dealing with legal fights over human remains can be a depressing business.
But San Francisco attorney Elizabeth J. Cabraser says the lawsuits are among the most challenging and rewarding of the more than 250 class actions on which she has worked.
"It can be literally depressing to prosecute these cases," she says, referring to the 35 families her firm, Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, represents against the Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Ga.
"The issues are hard, the facts are hard, and it's hard to present them in a compelling way that also doesn't disturb the jurors and the families," Cabraser says, "but we are really fighting to preserve the concept of human dignity."
Cabraser, who turns 50 this month, wasn't always involved in such grim business. Before going to law school, she was a drummer in several little-known rock bands, and she still jams with friends.
But an outstanding score on the LSAT eventually led her to become one of the country's most successful mass tort litigators.
"I got into tort class actions from not knowing any better," she says, "but I'm so glad that I did."
She contributes her success to her mentor and law partner, Robert Lieff, with whom she got her very first law job some 25 years ago.
"I do love the law for the historical aspects of it and the fact that we are able, in this country, to have a legal system that lets us recognize and enforce our rights," Cabraser says.
Eron Yehuda
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