Personal Background
Leila brings together a background in pharmaceutical and business litigation, as well as earlier work representing clients in a variety of public interest cases, giving her a well-rounded perspective in pursuing her clients’ cases.
With the firm since 2018, Leila is known for the precision and rigor she brings to a case from inception through discovery and up to trial. She has particular command of complex third-party discovery in large multidistrict litigation, where she reads the record closely, follows the facts wherever they lead, and draws them into a coherent account. Her work is methodical and resourceful, driven by a curiosity that keeps her pulling at a thread until the full picture comes clear.
Leila earned her law degree from Villanova Law School and her undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Harvard College with a major in Comparative Religion, and a minor in Italian Languages and Literature. During law school she was recognized for pro bono service to residents of her hometown of Galveston in the wake of Hurricane Ike, organizing her fellow students to provide a range of legal services for the community.
Leila works out of the firm’s Houston office.
Representative Cases
In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation, MDL No. 2804
Leila has worked on the national opioid multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio since she joined the firm. It ranks among the largest civil litigations in American history and has produced roughly $70 to $80 billion in cumulative global settlements. On behalf of cities, counties, and other governmental entities harmed by the epidemic, she pursues claims across the opioid supply chain, from manufacturers and distributors to pharmacies and, more recently, the pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts and OptumRx. These governmental plaintiffs, including state attorneys general, accuse the PBMs of prioritizing profits over safety by using rebates to incentivize high opioid volumes, weakening prescription safety controls, and ignoring misuse data. In support of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee, she helps develop the proof behind the plaintiffs’ case. Her opioid work also spans the litigation’s third-party payor track, and she oversees the firm’s Puerto Rico document review team for these matters.
In re Acetaminophen – ASD-ADHD Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3043
Leila supports the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in this federal multidistrict litigation, which alleges that Kenvue, the Johnson & Johnson spinoff that makes Tylenol, and major retailers that sold store-brand acetaminophen failed to warn consumers that taking the drug during pregnancy can increase the risk of autism spectrum disorder and ADHD in children. Consolidated in the Southern District of New York in 2022, the litigation was dismissed after the trial court excluded the plaintiffs’ causation experts and entered judgment against roughly 550 cases. In July 2026 the Second Circuit reversed, holding that the trial court had gone too far in excluding three of the plaintiffs’ experts, and returned more than 500 cases to active litigation. The decision turned on the admissibility of expert testimony rather than the underlying science, and the cases now move toward bellwether trials.
In re AT&T, Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, MDL No. 3114
As lead counsel in the AT&T data breach multidistrict litigation, The Lanier Law Firm secured a consolidated $177 million class-action settlement over two major 2024 data breaches that exposed the private data of roughly 73 million current and former customers. Leila was a member of the firm’s team on the case.
Community and Professional Activities
Leila manages the Helen J. Castillo Ayachi Foundation, which provides scholarships to students in Galveston County.