What Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein does

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein is a plaintiffs' civil litigation law firm founded in 1972 and domiciled in California as a limited liability partnership. The firm operates from four offices — San Francisco (headquarters), New York, Nashville, and Munich (Lieff Cabraser Europe, established 2025) — staffed by approximately 120 attorneys working across more than twelve practice areas including antitrust, civil rights and social justice, consumer protection, employment law, environmental and PFAS contamination, personal injury and mass tort, privacy and cybersecurity, securities and financial fraud, and emerging areas such as fertility/IVF, Native American, and survivors' rights litigation. Since its founding the firm reports recovering more than $133 billion in verdicts and settlements for clients, with recent landmark outcomes including a $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright class action settlement (largest in U.S. copyright history), a $235 million JUUL youth-vaping settlement, and a $118 million Google gender pay equity settlement covering 15,500 employees.

The firm's core offering is legal representation in complex civil litigation — class actions, multidistrict litigation, and individual lawsuits — typically engaged through court appointments as plaintiffs' lead or class counsel, direct plaintiff intake, or co-counsel relationships with peer plaintiff firms and civil rights organizations such as the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, MALDEF, and Equal Justice Society. Its technology profile is that of a traditional law firm: no proprietary software products, no mobile app, no public APIs or AI/ML platforms; the firm's competitive position rests on attorney expertise, court-appointed credentials, and case results rather than technology artifacts. Marketing is largely earned-media-driven, relying on case results, conference appearances, and industry recognition (National Law Journal, New York Law Journal, Chambers, Benchmark, Lawdragon, AAJ, JUVE, AAI, CAOC, and Best Lawyers).

The revenue model is almost exclusively professional services, dominated by contingency fee representation where the firm is paid a percentage of recovery only upon successful verdict or settlement, with hourly and fixed-fee arrangements used for selected matters. There is no equity or debt funding, no parent company, and no public reporting obligation; equity partners (including the firm managing partner and four office managing partners) constitute the ownership group, and the firm has remained independent since 1972.

Name

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein

Legal name

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP

Website

https://lieffcabraser.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1972

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein is a U.S. plaintiffs' litigation law firm founded in 1972 with 120+ attorneys across San Francisco, New York, Nashville, and Munich, representing individuals and classes in complex civil litigation under contingency fee arrangements.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Plaintiffs' Civil Litigation Services

NAICS

Legal Services (5411), Offices of Lawyers (541110), Offices of Lawyers (54111)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Personal Injury & Insurance Defense (BPAHAAAM)

Keywords

• Plaintiffs litigation
• Class action lawsuits
• Antitrust litigation
• Civil rights law
• Mass tort litigation

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Legal Services - Contingent Fee Representation: Represents clients in class actions and individual lawsuits on contingency fee basis where no fee is charged in absence of recovery. Also handles matters on hourly or fixed fee arrangements for certain case types. Court costs may be responsibility of contingent fee litigant in adverse outcomes.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein is a plaintiffs' civil litigation law firm that represents individuals, groups, and classes in complex lawsuits including class actions and multidistrict litigation. The firm handles cases involving antitrust violations, securities fraud, consumer protection, employment discrimination, civil rights, environmental contamination, product defects, personal injury, privacy, and whistleblower claims, typically on a contingency fee basis. Since 1972 it has recovered over $133 billion in verdicts and settlements for clients worldwide and operates from offices in San Francisco, New York, Nashville, and Munich.

Product overview

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein is a plaintiffs' litigation law firm (not a technology product company) that provides legal services across multiple practice areas including Antitrust, Consumer Protection, Civil Rights & Social Justice, Personal Injury/Mass Tort, Securities & Financial Fraud, Environmental Law, Employment Law, Privacy & Cybersecurity, and related litigation. The firm's offerings consist of legal representation services rather than software products or technology platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Antitrust Litigation Plaintiff-side antitrust representation in price-fixing, monopolization, and merger-related class actions including the Sprint/T-Mobile merger litigation where the firm serves as Co-Lead Counsel alleging harm to wireless subscribers from reduced competition.
• Civil Rights & Social Justice Plaintiff representation in civil rights matters, including AI-powered tenant surveillance litigation with ACLU Foundation of Northern California, hair relaxer cancer cases with Equal Justice Society, and class actions on behalf of federal workers terminated over DEI association.
• Consumer Protection Litigation Consumer class actions against manufacturers and sellers for defective products, false advertising, and unfair business practices, including representation of consumers in the TRW airbag safety defect class action against Hyundai, Kia, and ZF-TRW.
• Employment Law Plaintiff-side employment litigation including discrimination, harassment, wage and hour, and pay equity cases such as the $118 million Google gender pay equity settlement covering 15,500 female employees and the High-Tech Employee Antitrust case.
• Environmental Law Plaintiff representation in environmental contamination matters, including the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe PFAS contamination litigation against 3M, BASF, DuPont, and related companies, and the Benton Harbor water crisis settlement.
• Personal Injury & Mass Tort Plaintiff representation in personal injury and mass tort matters including the $235 million JUUL youth vaping settlement and serving on the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee in the national hair relaxer uterine cancer MDL.
• Privacy & Cybersecurity Plaintiff representation in privacy and cybersecurity litigation, including the Grok and xAI class action over AI-generated CSAM and the AI-powered tenant surveillance lawsuit against Equity Residential and SmartRent.
• Securities & Financial Fraud Plaintiff securities fraud class action representation including Co-Lead Counsel role in Block securities litigation alleging misrepresentations about compliance and anti-money laundering programs on Square and Cash App.
• Whistleblower / False Claims Act Representation of whistleblowers in qui tam False Claims Act matters involving fraud against the U.S. government.
• Economic Injury & Product Defect Plaintiff representation in economic injury and product defect cases, including defective vehicle airbag litigation and other product liability class actions.
• Native American Cases Plaintiff representation in Native American tribal and reservation matters, including the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe PFAS contamination litigation against 3M, BASF, DuPont, and related companies.
• Survivors' Rights Plaintiff representation for survivors of abuse and sexual misconduct, including litigation against institutional defendants.
• Fertility, IVF, and Embryo/Egg Loss Injuries Plaintiff representation for individuals and families harmed by fertility clinic errors, IVF failures, and embryo or egg loss incidents.
• Lieff Cabraser Europe European litigation practice operated through the Munich office, specializing in cartel damages claims, arbitration, and collective redress under European law, led by Munich Office Managing Partner Dr. Katharina Kolb.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over $133 billion recovered for clients worldwide since 1972
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and named plaintiffs.

• ACLU Foundation of Northern CaliforniacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 December 2025Lieff Cabraser partnered with ACLU Foundation of Northern California to file a lawsuit against landlords and surveillance technology vendors over AI-powered surveillance in tenants' homes, alleging constitutional privacy rights violations.
• Tobener Ravenscroft LLPcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 December 2025Co-counsel in ACLU lawsuit against Equity Residential and SmartRent over AI-powered tenant surveillance systems.
• Equal Justice SocietycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing partnership with Equal Justice Society on civil rights litigation including hair relaxer cancer cases and other social justice matters. Co-produced Health Equity Newsletter and collaborated on amicus briefs.
• Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-counsel in Abercrombie & Fitch race discrimination class action case.
• NAACP Legal Defense and Educational FundmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-counsel in employment discrimination cases including Abercrombie & Fitch case.
• Asian Pacific American Legal CentermajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-counsel in Abercrombie & Fitch race discrimination class action case.
• Susman GodfreycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-lead counsel with Lieff Cabraser in $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright class action settlement, the largest copyright settlement in US history.
• Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, Kirk Wallace Johnsonnamed plaintiffsOthersNamed plaintiffs in the Anthropic copyright class action representing thousands of authors whose works were allegedly used without permission to train AI systems.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP: San Diego-based plaintiffs' firm widely regarded as one of the largest and most successful securities class action and shareholder litigation practices in the US, with comparable size, court-appointed lead counsel track record, and contingency fee model targeting institutional investors.
• Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP: New York-based elite plaintiffs' firm specializing in securities fraud class actions, corporate governance litigation, and institutional investor recovery, with similar court-appointed lead counsel role and comparable fee economics.
• Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP: Radnor, PA-based plaintiffs' litigation firm with a comparable securities class action practice and a similar track record serving as lead counsel in major MDLs, directly competing for court appointments in the same case categories.
• Motley Rice LLC: Mount Pleasant, SC-based plaintiffs' firm specializing in complex litigation including asbestos, mass tort, securities, and consumer protection class actions with similar contingency fee structure and national MDL practice.
• Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC: Washington, DC-based plaintiffs' firm with a parallel practice in antitrust, securities, consumer protection, civil rights, and human rights class actions, frequently serving as co-lead or co-counsel alongside Lieff Cabraser in flagship cases.
• Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP: Seattle-based plaintiffs' firm with comparable consumer protection, securities, and antitrust class action practice, also operating on contingency fee model and competing for lead counsel appointments in tech-related MDLs.
• Susman Godfrey LLP: Houston-based elite trial firm with a substantial commercial and plaintiff-side complex litigation practice; named co-lead counsel with Lieff Cabraser in the $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright class action, making it a directly comparable trial adversary and co-counsel.
• Weitz & Luxenberg PC: New York-based mass tort and personal injury plaintiffs' firm of similar scale, specializing in asbestos, pharmaceutical, and consumer product litigation with a contingency fee model and similar court-appointed leadership in MDLs.
• Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP: Connecticut/New York-based plaintiffs' firm with a securities class action and antitrust practice of comparable scale, frequently serving as lead or co-lead counsel in MDL proceedings alongside Lieff Cabraser peers.
• Pomerantz LLP: New York-based plaintiffs' securities litigation firm with a comparable institutional investor class action practice, similar contingency fee economics, and a long history of court-appointed lead counsel roles in securities MDLs.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/92981
• Xx.com/LieffCabraser
• Facebookfacebook.com/LieffCabraser

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein