Tanya Forsheit

Widely considered one of the country’s top privacy and data security counselors and litigators, Tanya Forsheit has advised on high-profile matters involving confidential data and other sensitive information for nearly 20 years.

Ms. Forsheit is Co-Chair of the Privacy & Data Security Group, and a partner in the Technology & Digital Media, Litigation, and Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations groups. She represents multi-national and emerging companies in the media, entertainment, consumer products, healthcare, technology and professional services industries. She counsels clients facing data security breaches and defends against allegations that they mishandled sensitive customer or employee information.  She advises on the protection, storage and monetization of confidential data, including privacy policies, mobile apps, cloud computing, SaaS, smart devices and data analytics. Ms. Forsheit has advised on more than 100 data security breaches and regularly appears in federal and state court litigation, and has advised clients in matters before the Federal Trade Commission and California and other state Attorneys General.

Her representative litigation matters include:

Successfully defeated class certification on behalf of a healthcare technology company in a privacy class action in which plaintiffs sought recovery of more than $40 million for alleged unlawful transmission of faxes relating to HIPAA compliance;

Defended a greeting card company in a putative class action alleging violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA);

Represented online coupon company in John Doe litigation asserting claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for illegal scraping of company’s website content;

Won preliminary and permanent injunction and prevailed on summary judgment on behalf of online gaming company as plaintiff in Lanham Act and Anti-Cybersquatting Act lawsuit;

Successfully defended third party administrator in several suits alleging invasion of privacy and breach of medical confidentiality in violation of California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act — including a dismissal under California’s anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (“SLAPP”) statute;

Defended text-messaging software platform in purported class actions asserting platform users violated the TCPA by allegedly failing to obtain consent to send marketing text messages.

In addition to her privacy and data security practice, Ms. Forsheit advises on intellectual property matters, and she has represented motion picture studios and television networks in copyright litigation.  She also has experience in antitrust matters, representing a cable company in a purported class action alleging a tying arrangement.

Chambers USA, IT Law Experts, Who’s Who Legal, and Super Lawyers have all praised Ms. Forsheit for her privacy, data security and technology work, and the Los Angeles Daily Journal has twice included her in its list of "Top Women Litigators." Ms. Forsheit lectures widely on technology law topics and has been quoted on privacy and data security in publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Forbes, ComputerWorld, Venture Beat, and Law360.

She is certified as an information privacy professional by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). Ms. Forsheit is a past President of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles; and is a member of the American Bar Association: Science and Technology Law Section; the Los Angeles County Bar Association: Entertainment Law and Intellectual Property Section (ELIPS), Executive Committee; and the California Bar: Business Law Section, Cyberspace Committee.

Prior to joining Frankfurt Kurnit, she was a partner with BakerHostetler, and a founding partner of InfoLawGroup LLP, one of the nation’s leading privacy and data security boutiques.