Assistant State Attorney - State Attorney's Office, 12th Judicial Circuit

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Forest is a recent law school graduate and works as a government attorney in Sarasota, FL. He was born and raised in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA but moved to Washington State for part of his middle and high school education. While in Washington State, Forest developed a yearning for diversity initiatives and eventually became one of the youngest members of the Multi-Cultural Advisory Committee (MAC) which focused on closing the achievement gap between students of color and their white counterparts. Eventually, Forest and his family moved to Florida where he completed his high school and collegiate education. He received a B.S. in Legal Studies from the University of Central Florida and began working in the legal department of Marriott Vacations Worldwide as an aide to their in-house counsel. After gaining experience in corporate law, Forest decided to get his law degree.

 

While in law school, Forest became involved in several diversity initiatives. He was asked to join the school faculty’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee which was developed for law professors to brainstorm ideas and policies for engaging with diverse groups around campus. This also included developing diversity training protocols for the law school and boosting achievement for law students of color. Forest also became involved with Diversity Access Pipeline (DAP) which was a program designed to provide leadership, mentorship, and skills training to young, prospective lawyers. Finally, he became the President of the Black Law Student Association at Stetson Law which tasked him with organizing cultural events, mentorship of new inductees, and managing several executive board members to conduct fundraising and networking opportunities.

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