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Joanna Rosen Forster

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Areas of Focus

Overview

From startups to publicly traded companies, clients trust Joanna Forster with their most complex commercial disputes and regulatory matters across global jurisdictions. Joanna is a go-to “bet-the-company” litigator with a proven record representing companies in high-stakes litigation, class actions, and government investigations. She counsels clients in a broad array of matters, including technology, digital assets, e-commerce, and AI. She views her role as both a conflict manager, dispensing advice to avoid adversarial action; and a tech and business litigator, resolving disputes with her clients’ business goals in mind.

Joanna’s multifaceted background spans both government and in-house roles, offering her a 360-degree view of the matters she handles for clients. As general counsel and compliance officer for a publicly traded e-commerce platform, Joanna represented both plaintiffs and defendants, gaining a valuable in-house perspective on business decisions. Prior to this role, Joanna served as deputy attorney general in the Corporate Fraud Section of the California Department of Justice. She leverages this experience as a member of Crowell & Moring’s State Attorneys General Practice, advising clients facing government and regulatory investigations by state attorneys general.

Joanna litigates domestic and cross-border complex commercial disputes and advises cryptocurrency and blockchain, technology, and e-commerce companies on a wide range of matters concerning intellectual property, securities, antitrust, corporate governance, and contract disputes. She regularly advises clients on compliance with — and disputes relating to — internet platforms, AI products, product launches, market campaigns, and new vertical lines of business, as well as foreign and domestic laws that regulate online content and intermediary liability. Joanna also regularly advises and counsels clients on California’s Proposition 65, from prevention and compliance to remediation.

Joanna is widely recognized as a thought leader in the legal industry. A recipient of the 2025 Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing, she frequently speaks and publishes on issues integral to her practice. The Daily Journal named Joanna a Leading Commercial Litigator for 2026.

Career & Education

    • California

      •    Deputy Attorney General, Corporate Fraud Section,
            California Department of Justice, 2015–2021

    • California

      •    Deputy Attorney General, Corporate Fraud Section,
            California Department of Justice, 2015–2021

    • General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, ContextLogic, Inc.
    • General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, ContextLogic, Inc.

    • University of California, Berkeley School of Law, J.D., 2006
    • University of California, Berkeley, B.A., Political Science, 2000
    • University of California, Berkeley School of Law, J.D., 2006
    • University of California, Berkeley, B.A., Political Science, 2000

    • California
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
    • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
    • U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
    • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
    • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
    • California
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
    • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
    • U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
    • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
    • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California

    • Law Clerk, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the Honorable Consuelo B. Marshall, 2009
    • Extern, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Honorable Audrey B. Collins, 2004
    • Law Clerk, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the Honorable Consuelo B. Marshall, 2009
    • Extern, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Honorable Audrey B. Collins, 2004

    • Jewish Community Center of San Francisco: Board Member
    • Family House Inc.: Member, Family Services Committee
    • Jewish Community Center of San Francisco: Board Member
    • Family House Inc.: Member, Family Services Committee

    • English
    • Spanish
    • English
    • Spanish

Joanna's Insights

Client Alert | 4 min read | 04.10.26

FTC Issues Five-Year Strategic Plan: What Businesses Need to Know

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2026–2030, setting out the agency’s enforcement priorities and operational objectives for the next five years under Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson. The plan reaffirms the FTC’s commitment to vigorously enforcing the nation’s antitrust and consumer protection laws “without fear or favor.” Critically for businesses, the plan returns the phrase “without unduly burdening legitimate business activity” to the agency’s mission statement, signaling a commitment to ending what the agency characterizes as overregulation of businesses that compete fairly and deal honestly with consumers. Despite this business-friendly framing, the plan signals robust enforcement across consumer protection, antitrust, and emerging technology — areas that will directly affect in-house counsel’s compliance planning over the coming years....

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Representative Matters

  • Lead counsel representing a San Francisco-based blockchain in various litigation and arbitration matters relating to corporate governance and disputes with former advisor and founder.
  • Represent prominent AI enterprise company alleging misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract by a former customer.
  • Represent major retail platform facing class action allegations regarding deceptive and unfair pricing practices and misleading disclosures online.
  • Represent nationwide e-tailer facing allegations and claims of deceptive pricing and illegal processing of personal data.
  • Served as external general counsel and chief compliance officer for ContextLogic Inc., a publicly traded company operating in over 60 countries. In this capacity, Joanna advised on all aspects of the business and public company functions and provided counsel to the board of directors.
  • Served as a member of the litigation team that secured over $1 billion in recovery for CalPERS and CalSTRs in connection with the rating, due diligence, and underwriting of residential mortgage-backed securities following the financial crisis of 2008–2010, which received the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in 2019.

Joanna's Insights

Client Alert | 4 min read | 04.10.26

FTC Issues Five-Year Strategic Plan: What Businesses Need to Know

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2026–2030, setting out the agency’s enforcement priorities and operational objectives for the next five years under Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson. The plan reaffirms the FTC’s commitment to vigorously enforcing the nation’s antitrust and consumer protection laws “without fear or favor.” Critically for businesses, the plan returns the phrase “without unduly burdening legitimate business activity” to the agency’s mission statement, signaling a commitment to ending what the agency characterizes as overregulation of businesses that compete fairly and deal honestly with consumers. Despite this business-friendly framing, the plan signals robust enforcement across consumer protection, antitrust, and emerging technology — areas that will directly affect in-house counsel’s compliance planning over the coming years....

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Recognition

Daily Journal: Leading Commercial Litigators, 2026

Joanna's Insights

Client Alert | 4 min read | 04.10.26

FTC Issues Five-Year Strategic Plan: What Businesses Need to Know

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2026–2030, setting out the agency’s enforcement priorities and operational objectives for the next five years under Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson. The plan reaffirms the FTC’s commitment to vigorously enforcing the nation’s antitrust and consumer protection laws “without fear or favor.” Critically for businesses, the plan returns the phrase “without unduly burdening legitimate business activity” to the agency’s mission statement, signaling a commitment to ending what the agency characterizes as overregulation of businesses that compete fairly and deal honestly with consumers. Despite this business-friendly framing, the plan signals robust enforcement across consumer protection, antitrust, and emerging technology — areas that will directly affect in-house counsel’s compliance planning over the coming years....

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Insights

Client Alert | 4 min read | 04.10.26

FTC Issues Five-Year Strategic Plan: What Businesses Need to Know

Firm News | 2 min read | 04.01.26

Crowell & Moring Attorneys Chahira Solh and Joanna Forster Named to Daily Journal’s “2026 Leading Commercial Litigators” List

Client Alert | 4 min read | 03.30.26

Landmark Verdicts Against Meta and YouTube Signal New Era of Social Media Platform Liability

Client Alert | 6 min read | 03.20.26

Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) Compliance Alert for Higher Education: Deal Rejections Mount as State Resistance Grows

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Practices

Industries

Joanna's Insights

Client Alert | 4 min read | 04.10.26

FTC Issues Five-Year Strategic Plan: What Businesses Need to Know

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2026–2030, setting out the agency’s enforcement priorities and operational objectives for the next five years under Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson. The plan reaffirms the FTC’s commitment to vigorously enforcing the nation’s antitrust and consumer protection laws “without fear or favor.” Critically for businesses, the plan returns the phrase “without unduly burdening legitimate business activity” to the agency’s mission statement, signaling a commitment to ending what the agency characterizes as overregulation of businesses that compete fairly and deal honestly with consumers. Despite this business-friendly framing, the plan signals robust enforcement across consumer protection, antitrust, and emerging technology — areas that will directly affect in-house counsel’s compliance planning over the coming years....

View All Insights