Tanya Forsheit
Tanya L. Forsheit is one of the Founding Partners of the InformationLawGroup, based in Los Angeles, California. Tanya founded the InformationLawGroup after 12 years as a litigator and privacy/data security counselor at Proskauer Rose LLP, where, most recently, she was Co-Chair of the firm’s international Privacy and Data Security practice group. In 2009, Tanya was named one of the Los Angeles Daily Journal’s Top 100 women litigators in California.
Certified as an information privacy professional by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), Tanya works with clients to address legal requirements and best practices for protection of customer and employee information. She regularly advises clients regarding legal restrictions on information-sharing and data retention, and provides guidance regarding state laws requiring notification in the event of data security breaches. Tanya frequently speaks and writes on recent developments in federal and state privacy laws, and launched Proskauer’s popular Privacy Law Blog in early 2007.
Tanya also has extensive experience handling complex commercial and appellate litigation for corporate and individual clients before federal and state courts at all levels. Tanya’s commercial litigation experience includes defense of a wide variety of commercial disputes including breach of contract, business tort, trademark infringement, fraud, employment, and antitrust claims, as well as the prosecution of claims for cybersquatting, copyright infringement, unfair competition, and misappropriation of trade secrets. In June 2008, Tanya obtained summary judgment on behalf of online entertainment company GoPets Ltd. in a trademark infringement and cybersquatting case, resulting in an award of statutory damages and transfer of www.gopets.com and 18 other domain names to GoPets. Tanya was part of the Los Angeles-based Proskauer team that successfully petitioned the United States Supreme Court to grant certiorari, and obtained a landmark decision, in Johnson v. California, 125 S. Ct. 1141 (2005), resulting in a historic settlement with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation calling for the desegregation of California's prison system.
Tanya is a member of the Bar of the State of California, and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Fourth Circuits, and the United States District Courts for the Central, Northern, and Southern Districts of California. She is an Officer and Board Member of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, sits on the Executive Committee of the Entertainment Law and Intellectual Property Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and co-chairs the Cloud Computing Working Group of the Information Security Committee, ABA Section of Science & Technology Law.
Practice Areas
- Privacy and data security counseling, compliance, and policies
- Security breach notice, incident response, and litigation
- Marketing counseling and compliance
- Commercial litigation, including intellectual property (copyright and trademark)
- E-commerce, outsourcing, cloud computing, software as a service
Professional Associations
- American Bar Association, Science & Technology Law, Intellectual Property, and Litigation Sections: active member of the Information Security Committee and the Special Committee On Promotions and Marketing Law
- International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)
- First Vice President, Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles
- Executive Committee, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Entertainment and Intellectual Property Committee
Education
- University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D.
- Duke University, AB Political Science and English, cum laude
Bar Admissions
- California
Selected Speaking Engagements
Upcoming:
- Practising Law Institute (PLI), Cloud Computing 2010: Is Your Company Ready?, Litigation Issues, San Francisco and Live Webcast, June 23, 2010
- Catalyst North America, Cloud Law and Order Roundtable, San Diego, July 28, 2010
- Practising Law Institute (PLI), Outsourcing 2010: Structuring, Negotiation and Governance, Outsourcing and Cloud Computing: Privacy Issues, Los Angeles, October 21-22, 2010
- Georgetown Law, Advanced E-Discovery Institute 2010, Washington, DC, November 19, 2010
- AIPLA Mid-Winter Institute, Cloud Computing 101 – How to Avoid the Hail Storms, Orlando, FL, February 4, 2011
Past:
- IAPP Practical Privacy, Security Considerations in Cloud Computing (Data Breach track), Santa Clara, CA, June 15, 2010
- IAPP Web Conference, Negotiating and Preparing Cloud Contracts, webinar, May 13, 2010
- Strafford Webinar, Cloud Computing: Emerging E-Discovery Trends, webinar, May 4, 2010
- Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles 15th Annual Litigators Forum, TECH MATTERS: The Convergence of the E-Revolution and Your Litigation Practice, Moderator, How Technology is Shaping the Law, March 15, 2010, Los Angeles
- RSA Conference, Legal and Privacy Considerations in the Cloud, LAW-302, March 4, 2010, San Francisco
- RSA Conference, Cloudy with a Chance of Litigation, LAW-107, March 2, 2010, San Francisco
- Cloud Law International Summit, The “Big Two” Panel, February 10, 2010, London
- IACCM Ask The Expert - Contract & Legal Considerations in Cloud Computing Part 2, January 28, 2010, Teleconference
- PLI Outsourcing and Offshoring 2009, Outsourcing and Cloud Computing, Privacy and Data Security, October 23, 2009, San Francisco, and webcast available online
- PLI Financial Services Industry Regulatory Compliance & Ethics Forum 2009, Regulatory Compliance Essentials- Designing an Effective Compliance Program Relating to Privacy and Data Security, November 11, 2009, New York, and webcast available online
- Bright Talk Webinar, International Regulatory Issues in the Cloud, September 30, 2009
- American Bar Association Annual Meeting, Science & Technology Law Section, Information Security Committee Meeting, Cloud Computing Legal Issues, July 30, 2009, Chicago
- 2009 AICPA Information Technology Conference, Managing Sensitive Data: Security Practices and Policies, June 17, 2009, Las Vegas
- CSISX, General Session -- Can You Prove Compliance in the Cloud?, May 19, 2009, Las Vegas
- Debix Webinar, Managing Data Breach Litigation, December 2, 2008
- PLUS, Preventing the Unpreventable: Best Practices to Minimize Exposure to Information Losses, November 7, 2008
- Law Seminars International, eHavioral, Peer-to-Peer and New Media Marketing, Privacy in Advertising, June 3, 2008, Seattle
- SHRM Annual Conference, Workplace Privacy, June 2008, Chicago
- IAPP, Practical Privacy, Data Breach, Litigation Developments, June 2008, New York
- Business 21 Webinars, E-Privacy: How You Can Legally Monitor E-mail, IM, Blogs and Internet Activity, multiple occasions
- PLI Outsourcing and Offshoring 2007, October 2007, San Francisco
- PLI Privacy and Security Law Institute (Eighth Annual): Pathways to Compliance in a Global Regulatory Maze, June 2007, New York


