He previously worked with the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C., where he developed an interest in juvenile justice and the challenges facing young people and their families in the inner city. He helped found and build an education and job-training project for children in the juvenile justice system that evolved into the Maya Angelou Public Charter School, which he continues to serve as board chair. Forman studied at Brown University and Yale Law School, where he was as an editor on the Yale Law Journal. After law school, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.