Elizabeth Cabraser, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein

What's the best lesson you learned practicing law?

The law is a long game. It advances over time- if challenged and pushed. Like anything worth winning, we must fight to keep our victories. While we never know the hour when small changes will reach a tipping point of profound change, we must act as if this can happen any day.

What's the biggest challenge women lawyers face and how have you surmounted that challenge?

“Women lawyers “ haven't yet lost our adjective of limitation. That means, horrifically, that we still aren't accepted as persons with the full right to be just “lawyers”- even though the majority of lawyers will soon be women. Sadly, the only group that needs no adjectives are straight white males: apparently, the only regular people. We all have the right to be ourselves and at the same time to be full-fledged, “regular” people. I try to promote this by acting as if I have every right to be where, and who, I am, without permission, apology, or explanation.

How would your peers describe your impact on the profession?

I hope: “When she didn't like the law, she went out and made some of her own.” But I'll take: “She showed up, worked hard, and cared.”