Evelyn Yifei Riley

Evelyn Yifei Riley (李一飞) is a Partner at Cuneo Gilbert Flannery & LaDuca, LLP and a nationally recognized antitrust litigator who represents businesses, municipalities, and consumers harmed by anticipative conduct. Over more than a decade of complex litigation practice, she has helped recover more than $1.6 billion for indirect purchasers, and she now holds court-appointed leadership roles in some of the most closely watched antitrust class actions in the country, spanning fire apparatus, HVAC equipment, fertilizer, food protein, and commercial real estate data.

Federal courts regularly entrust Ms. Riley and her team with leadership of complex multidistrict litigation. Over the past year alone, she has been appointed as interim lead counsel in four newly filed antitrust MDLs. In May 2026, she argued and secured the firm’s appointment as Interim Co-Lead Class Counsel for Commercial Indirect Purchasers in In re HVAC and Refrigeration Antitrust Litigation, a case challenging an alleged conspiracy among manufacturers controlling roughly 90 percent of the U.S. market. In August, she was named to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee for the direct purchaser class in the CoStar antitrust litigation, a case challenging certain anticompetitive conduct of the dominant provider of online commercial real estate listings and data services in the both the CRE listings market and the CRE information services market nationwide. Most recently, she was selected as one of the members on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee for the indirect purchasers’ class by the MDL court overseeing the NPK Fertilizer litigation.

Ms. Riley brings a perspective few plaintiffs’ lawyers can match. She was trained in both Chinese and U.S. law, served in the chambers of Chief Judge Randall R. Rader of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and spent two years defending high exposure matters at an Am Law 100 firm. That experience on the other side of the “v.” informs how she builds cases, evaluates risk, and drives defendants toward meaningful resolutions. She is fluent in English and Mandarin.

Ms. Riley has been named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America (2026, 2027), the Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers (2026), and the Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Antitrust & Competition Lawyers (2026).

Leadership Appointments

• In re Fire Apparatus Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 3179 (E.D. Wis.) — Member of the Interim Co-Lead Class Counsel team for Direct Purchasers, representing cities, fire departments, and municipalities nationwide in fire truck price-fixing litigation before Judge William C. Griesbach. The firm was first appointed in December 2025 and re-appointed as one of four co-leads upon consolidation in May 2026.
• In re HVAC and Refrigeration Antitrust Litigation, No. 2:26-cv-11341 (E.D. Mich.) — Argued and secured the firm’s appointment as Interim Co-Lead Class Counsel for Commercial Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs, representing independent HVAC businesses and installers.
• In re Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (NPK) Fertilizer Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 3187 (D. Kan.) — Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, Indirect Purchasers Class.
• In re CoStar Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 3192 (E.D. Va.) — Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, representing direct purchasers in monopolization claims involving the CoStar and LoopNet platforms.
• Protein Antitrust Litigation (Beef, Pork, and Turkey) — serves as Co-Lead Counsel for all three Commercial and Institutional Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs classes. In In re Pork Antitrust Litigation (D. Minn.), helped secure the class’s fifth settlement, with Clemens Food Group, honored by the American Antitrust Institute in 2026 for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice. In In re Turkey Antitrust Litigation, helped win class certification in January 2025 for Commercial and Institutional Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs.
• In re Granulated Sugar Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 3110 (D. Minn.) — serves as Co-Lead Counsel for Commercial Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs.
• In re Shell Eggs Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 3175 (W.D. Wis.) — serves as Co-Lead and Liaison Counsel for Commercial Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs.
• In re Fragrance Indirect Purchaser Antitrust Litigation (D.N.J.) — serves as Co-Lead Counsel for Commercial Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs, alleging a global price-fixing conspiracy among fragrance manufacturers.
• In re Construction Equipment Rental Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 3152 (N.D. Ill.) — Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, alleging algorithmic price-fixing among major equipment rental companies.

Notable Results

• In re Auto Parts Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 2311 (E.D. Mich.) — One of the principal attorneys prosecuting forty cases on behalf of automobile dealerships in one of the largest price-fixing investigations in U.S. history, contributing to approximately $400 million in settlements.
• In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation, MDL No. 2804 (N.D. Ohio) — Member of the team that secured a landmark $700 million settlement for hospitals affected by the opioid epidemic.
• In re Pork Antitrust Litigation (D. Minn.) — a 2026 American Antitrust Institute Antitrust Enforcement Award honoree.

Background

Ms. Riley joined Cuneo Gilbert Flannery & LaDuca in 2013, where she litigated alongside the firm’s late founding partner, Jonathan Cuneo, on behalf of indirect purchasers injured by anticompetitive conduct. From 2022 to 2024, she practiced in the D.C. office of a national law firm, representing clients in state and federal courts nationwide in high-exposure commercial contract, consumer protection, employment, privacy, product liability, and trade secret matters. While there, she co-chaired the firm’s Asian Americans Resource Group and served on the Steering Committee of its Women’s Initiative. She returned to CGFL in 2024 and now serves as a Partner.

While earning her LL.M. in Intellectual Property at The George Washington University Law School, Ms. Riley was selected from a competitive pool of law students and lawyers to serve as a judicial intern to Chief Judge Randall R. Rader of the Federal Circuit, working on complex patent and international trade appeals. Earlier, she worked for judges at a district court in Wuhan, China, and interned at Jingtian & Gongcheng, a leading Beijing capital markets firm.

Ms. Riley has served on the Board of Directors of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C. Area (APABA-DC). Outside the law, she is an accomplished performer of the guzheng, a traditional Chinese stringed instrument, recognized at the provincial and national levels.

Substantive Practice Areas

• Antitrust
• Consumer Protection
• Class Action

Education

• The George Washington University Law School (LL.M., Intellectual Property, 2011)
• Beijing Foreign Studies University (LL.B. and B.A., 2010)

Bar Admissions

• New York
• District of Columbia

Court Admissions

• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia
• U.S. Court of Federal Claims
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
• U.S. District Court, District of Columbia

Recognition

• Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America, 2026–2027
• Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers, 2026
• Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Antitrust & Competition Lawyers, 2026
• American Antitrust Institute Antitrust Enforcement Award Honoree, Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice, 2026 (team, In re Pork Antitrust Litigation)

Professional Affiliations

• The Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C. Area
• District of Columbia Bar Association
• New York State Bar Association
• National Asian Pacific American Bar Association

Languages

• English
• Mandarin Chinese