Paulina do Amaral

With 20 years of experience, Paulina do Amaral is a partner in Lieff Cabraser’s New York office and a senior member of the firm’s Mass Tort and Injury Practice Team. Paulina represents individuals, groups and classes in complex, multi-party litigation in state and federal courts and in multidistrict litigation throughout the U.S. Paulina’s current work includes representation of government entities in one of the largest pieces of civil litigation in history, In re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, in which she serves as a leader of the Law and Briefing Committee and on the Expert Oversight Committee.

Paulina has dedicated her career to achieving justice for individuals injured by dangerous and defective products and other corporate wrongdoing against some of the largest corporations in the world. With vast specific experience in the area of pharmaceutical litigation, Paulina has represented thousands of individuals, successfully recovering millions of dollars on their behalf, in cases involving drugs such as Actos, Zofran, Baycol, Rezulin, and Fen-Phen, and other health products such as talc products, defective surgical mesh, and an infant food thickener given to premature infants who were either killed or suffered lifelong harm. Paulina also served on the bellwether trial team in the Yaz and Yasmin birth control drug injuries case that was weeks from trial when the entire litigation settled in 2012.

In addition to her pharmaceutical and health product experience, Paulina’s past work includes environmental and 9/11 injury litigation. Working on behalf of more than 500 individuals in Eastern Kentucky, she successfully resolved claims arising from an October 2000 coal sludge disaster . Paulina also served as lead pro bono counsel on behalf of seven victims and their decedents in hearings before the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund arising out of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. The combined awards obtained were in excess of $5 million.

In 2019, Paulina was named to the Board of Trustees of the UC Hastings College of the Law and was selected for inclusion in Lawdragon’s list of “500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers.”

Publications and Presentations

•Co-Chair, HarrisMartin Opioid Litigation Conference, San Francisco, February 2018
•“Rapid Response: Opioid Litigation, ” American Association for Justice Seminar, September 2017
•Co-Author, “Class Actions Fairness Act of 2005,” California Litigation, Vol. 18, No. 3, 2005

Honors and Awards

•Selected for inclusion by peers in The Best Lawyers in America in the field of “Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions - Plaintiffs,” 2017-2020
•“500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers,” Lawdragon, 2019
•Legal 500 recommended lawyer, LegalEase, 2013

Past Employment Positions

•Chief Judge Richard Alan Enslen, U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan, Law Clerk, 1996 - 1998

In the News

•February 27, 2020
Elizabeth Cabraser, Paulina do Amaral, and Annika K. Martin to Serve as Faculty in Upcoming March 2020 Duke University Mass Tort MDL Certificate Program
•February 28, 2018
Paulina do Amaral Co-Chairs HarrisMartin Opioid Litigation Conference in San Francisco
•August 22, 2017
Paulina do Amaral to Speak at September AAJ Opioid Litigation Seminar
•June 14, 2013
Legal 500 Recognizes Lieff Cabraser as Having One of the Nation’s Top Plaintiffs’ Employment Groups
•January 29, 2013
European Medicines Agency to Review Yaz Risks
•January 24, 2013
Attorney Paulina do Amaral Provides Video Update on Yaz Birth Control Injury Lawsuits