Overview
Elizabeth Tran Castillo is a partner in the San Francisco Bay Area office of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP and a member of the Antitrust & Global Competition practice group. Her work focuses on class actions and other complex litigation. Her experience includes litigating direct and indirect purchaser class actions as well as international and domestic cartel matters. In 2023, she was personally appointed to the leadership team in In re ARC Airbag Inflators Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3051, No. 1:22-md-03051-ELR (N.D. Ga.) and, in 2022, she was personally appointed interim co-lead counsel in In re Deere & Company Repair Services Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 3030, No. 3:22-cv-50188-IDJ (N.D. Ill.). Her career has been noteworthy due to her leadership in In re Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation, a multidistrict litigation in the Eastern District of Michigan against over 70 defendant groups that settled for over $1.2 billion.
Liz has received various honors for her antitrust work, including:
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Antitrust & Competition Lawyers (2025)
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers (2024-2025)
- Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America (2024-2025)
- Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal Top Antitrust Lawyers (2022)
- American Antitrust Institute Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Award (2019)
- American Antitrust Institute Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement by a Young Lawyer Award (2016)
- Northern California Super Lawyers (2022-2025) and Rising Star (2015-2021)
Liz has represented consumers, businesses, and local governments in both federal and state courts and at all stages of litigation, including discovery, trial, and appeals. While she is involved in all aspects of the cases she litigates, she places emphasis on her case development, e-discovery, and settlement strategy work.
Liz earned her J.D. from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings) in 2011. While at UC Law SF, she was a Super Regional Semifinalist in the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. She also received Honorable Mentions for both Best Brief and Best Oral Argument in Moot Court. Additionally, she served as a Judicial Extern to the Honorable A. James Robertson II in the Superior County of California, County of San Francisco, and as a Teaching Assistant for both Legal Writing & Research and Moot Court. Throughout law school, she mentored underserved high school students on preparing for college.
Liz received her B.A. in Economics and Political Science, with a concentration in Public Policy, from Boston University in 2008. While at BU, she interned at an international law firm and business advocacy organization in London and Sydney, respectively, during her third year. Liz has national and state legislative experience. She interned for then-U.S. Representative Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii, 1991-2010; Governor of Hawaii, 2010-2014) in Washington, D.C. and State Representative Scott Nishimoto (D-Hawaii, 2003-present) in Honolulu.
Liz grew up in Honolulu but has been laying roots in the Bay Area since 2008. She lives in San Mateo with her husband and two children. She enjoys good food, great deals, meticulous planning, outdoor adventures, and fiction.
Experience
Representative Matters
Liz represents or represented plaintiffs in the following antitrust class actions in which she serves as lead or co-lead counsel and has secured noteworthy results for American consumers and businesses:
- In re Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation (All End-Payor Plaintiff Actions), MDL No. 2311, Master File No. 2:12-md-02311-MOB (E.D. Mich.) ($1.2 billion+ in settlements)
- In re Cattle and Beef Antitrust Litigation (All Direct Purchaser Plaintiff Actions), No. 0:20-cv-01319-JRT-HB (D. Minn.) ($52.5 million in settlement to date)
- In re Capacitors Antitrust Litigation (All Indirect Purchaser Plaintiff Actions), MDL No. 2801, No. 3:14-cv-03264-JD (N.D. Cal.) ($80.79 million in settlements)
- In re Deere & Company Repair Services Antitrust Litig., No. 3:22-cv-50188 (N.D. Ill.)
- In re Domestic Airline Travel Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 2656, No. 1:15-mc-01404-CKK (D.D.C.) ($60 million in settlements to date)
- In re Geisinger Health and Evangelical Community Hospital Healthcare Workers Antitrust Litigation, No. 4:21-cv-00196-MWB (M.D. Pa.) ($28.5 million in settlements)
- In re Resistors Antitrust Litigation, No. 5:15-cv-03820-JD (N.D. Cal.) ($33.4 million in settlements)
- In re Telescopes Antitrust Litigation (All Indirect Purchaser Plaintiff Actions), No. 5:20-cv-03639-EJD (N.D. Cal.) ($32 million in settlements)
- In re Transpacific Passenger Air Transportation Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1913, Case No. 3:07-cv-05634-CRB (N.D. Cal.) ($148.152 million in settlements)
Honors & Awards
Honors & Recognitions
2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Antitrust & Competition Lawyers
2024-2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers
2024-2025 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America
2022-2024 Northern California Super Lawyers
2022 Daily Journal “Top Antitrust Lawyers”
2015-2021 Super Lawyers Northern California Rising Star
2019 American Antitrust Institute Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice Award
2016 American Antitrust Institute Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement by a Young Lawyer Award
Publications
Publications
In the News
Blog Posts
Blog Posts
Speaking Engagements
Speaking Engagements
Affiliations
Civic
Liz participates/participated in the following organizations:
- Member, Steering Committee, Cambridge Forum on Antitrust Litigation (2024-2025)
- Chair, Judging Committee, Antitrust Enforcement Awards, American Antitrust Institute (2025); Co-Chair, Judging Committee, Antitrust Enforcement Awards, American Antitrust Institute (2023-2024); Member, Judging Committee, Antitrust Enforcement Awards, American Antitrust Institute (2020- )
- Advisor, Executive Committee of the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the California Lawyers Association (2021- ); Member, Executive Committee of the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the California Lawyers Association (2018-2021)
- Advisory Board Member, Global Private Litigation Committee, Section of Antitrust Law, American Bar Association (2018-2019)
- Co-Chair, Trying Antitrust (newsletter), Trial Practice Committee, Section of Antitrust Law, American Bar Association (2019)
- Co-Chair, Mentorship Committee, Asian American Bar Association (2018-2019); Co-Chair, Annual Dinner Host Committee, Asian American Bar Association (2017-2018)
- Chair, Scholarship Dinner Planning Committee, Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California (2016)
- Volunteer, Federal Pro Bono Project, United States District Court, Northern District of California (2015)
Professional
California Lawyers Association Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section
American Antitrust Institute
Cambridge Forum on Antitrust Litigation
American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section
Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area
Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws (COSAL)
Consumer Attorneys of California
San Mateo County Bar Association
Practices
Education
University of California, Hastings College of the Law, J.D., 2011
- Super Regional Semifinalist, Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition
- Honorable Mentions, Best Brief and Best Oral Argument, Moot Court
- Teaching Assistant, Legal Writing & Research and Moot Court
- Bar Association of San Francisco Bay Area Minority Law Student Scholarship Recipient
Boston University, B.A., Economics and Political Science, 2008
Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, Milan, Italy, Fall 2010
Admissions
- California
- District of Columbia
- New York
