Hon. Katherine B. Forrest (fmr)
Katherine B. Forrest, former U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, has rejoined Cravath as a partner in the Firm’s Litigation Department. During her tenure on the bench, Ms. Forrest presided over a diverse range of matters. She has significant experience in complex litigation (including in the areas of antitrust, pharmaceutical, financial services, toxic tort, intellectual property and significant employment matters), as well as criminal matters and investigations. Over the course of her 28-year career, she has been regarded as a leader in legal issues relating to technology, including the digital environment, high‘speed trading and content distribution (from both the content provider and distributor sides). She has recently given speeches on big data and artificial intelligence.
Ms. Forrest is focused on high‘profile investigations in multiple industries involving criminal and other regulatory entities, including the DOJ and U.S. and foreign regulators. Her representations include leading a high‘profile investigation for a major media company and representing a multinational European company in connection with multiple investigations involving a variety of criminal and civil agencies.
In 2011, Ms. Forrest was nominated by President Obama to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York. In her seven years on the bench, Ms. Forrest presided over several thousand criminal and civil cases, including over 100 trials. She also authored more than 1,000 opinions and she sat by designation on the Second Circuit for over dozens of appeals. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated over 30 lawsuits filed nationwide concerning aluminum price-fixing allegations before Ms. Forrest. As one of the members of the Judicial Patent Task Force for the Southern District of New York, she presided over several dozen patent cases and conducted numerous Markman hearings. Before stepping down from the bench, Ms. Forrest also served on the Grievance Committee for the Southern District since 2011 and was Chair of the Committee from 2016 until August 2018.
In 2010, Ms. Forrest was named Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, where she oversaw operations for criminal and civil enforcement and worked on merger review and numerous civil and criminal (cartel and price‘fixing) antitrust investigations.
Prior to her eight years in government service, Ms. Forrest spent 20 years as a litigator at Cravath, where she advised on and litigated antitrust, intellectual property, employment and contract issues for a wide range of clients in the media, airline, banking, healthcare, pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries. Her clients have included Time Warner and a number of its divisions, including Home Box Office, Warner Brothers Studios, Turner Broadcasting Systems and Time Warner Cable, as well as Warner Music Group, Schneider Electric, First Solar and United Airlines. While at Cravath, Ms. Forrest was appointed to and served on the New York Appellate Division First Department’s Disciplinary Committee from 2008 to 2010.
Ms. Forrest is an Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU Law School co-teaching a course on Quantitative Methods and the Law. She is a frequent lecturer and published author on topics in the areas of antitrust, intellectual property and investigations, recently authoring an article discussing important considerations for preemptive #MeToo investigations. In May 2018, Ms. Forrest delivered the New York City Bar’s Milton Handler Lecture on “Big Data, Exclusionary Behavior and Economic Efficiency” in which she addressed a number of important antitrust implications raised by big data. In November 2018, she gave the Brace Memorial Lecture on Artificial Intelligence, sponsored by the Copyright Society of the U.S.A., at Fordham Law School. Over the course of her career, Ms. Forrest has been recognized as a leading lawyer by numerous professional publications, including The American Lawyer, Benchmark Litigation, Chambers, Global Competition Review, IP Law & Business, Lawdragon and The Legal 500. In 2019, she was included in Crain’s New York Business’s list of “Notable Women in Law.” The American Lawyer recognized Ms. Forrest as one of 10 district court judges to watch (based on feedback from litigators across the country on judges who have impressed them the most) and Law360 named her one of the 10 most influential recently appointed judges.