Commercial Law Academy

Jake Schogger is a qualified lawyer, career coach, entrepreneur, author, copywriter and consultant. He is the founder and CEO of City Career Series, a publishing company that has sold ~50,000 handbooks designed to help students secure City careers, including the critically acclaimed Commercial Law Handbook. He trained at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and now acts as a legal adviser to start-ups and scale-ups, whilst also working as a career coach and delivering career-related presentations at universities across the UK. In addition, Jake works with tech start-ups and runs a variety of his own businesses, including a creative/commercial consultancy (Fresh Perspective) and a luxury cake business (Whisk & Drizzle). For more information, visit: www.citycareerseries.com and www.linkedin.com/groups/8944518 or search for “City Career Series” on YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Hannah Salton is a qualified executive coach, career consultant and former corporate graduate recruiter. She spent the first eight years of her career recruiting graduate talent for leading international corporations, including telecoms giant BT and elite law firm Allen & Overy. In 2017 she transitioned to a career in coaching and professional development, specialising in helping graduates achieve ambitious career goals. Through her personalised one-to-one and group coaching programmes, she helps people develop the skills, confidence and awareness needed to secure their dream job. For more information, visit www.hannahsalton.co.uk and connect with Hannah on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-salton-coaching

Giles spearheads Avvoka’s growth strategy, which involves working with in-house legal teams, leading law firms, and businesses. Previously, Giles worked as a City lawyer at Herbert Smith Freehills and Kirkland & Ellis. Giles also has in-house experience working for BP’s in-house legal team and in the regulatory division of PAX Labs/Juul.

LinkedIn personality Gordon Chung is a future trainee solicitor at Baker McKenzie. He completed his Bachelor of Laws degree at City University of Hong Kong before obtaining his postgraduate Master of Corporate Law degree at University of Cambridge. Recently, Gordon also passed the July 2019 New York state bar examination and is currently awaiting admission as a New York attorney-at-law.

Akil Hunte is a future trainee solicitor at CMS and a multi-award winning law graduate from Nottingham Trent. He is a public speaker, a motivational influencer, the author of ‘Unlocking Yourself After Lockdown’, a mentor to dozens of aspiring lawyers, and the founder of a marketing and branding programme called ‘LinkedIn Skills For Lawyers’.

Simranjeet Kaur Mann is a future trainee solicitor at Womble Bond Dickinson, having received three training contract offers after finishing university. She has amassed an impressive range of work experience, having completed three vacation schemes, undertaken three paralegal roles, attended four assessment centres and briefly worked at a “Big 4” accounting firm. She’s passionate about increasing diversity across, and access to the legal profession, which has led to her offering regular guidance to aspiring solicitors via her Instagram page and her (light-hearted yet informational) YouTube channel, ‘Sim’s Legal Mentoring’.

Peggy Forell is the founder of Advocality, a consultancy born out of a passion for teaching presentation skills. These are the skills that go into delivering a message to a group of people (including interviewers!), with the intention of making them glad they heard it. Peggy has worked mainly with lawyers over the years and was employed by one of the City’s magic circle law firms to teach lawyers how to better communicate, structure and deliver presentations. However, Peggy is not a lawyer. In fact, this is her USP. For many years, she trained for the stage, after achieving a Degree in Speech & Dramatic Art with the University of Iowa. When her dazzling career in performance didn’t eventuate, she diversified into working with non-actors on their verbal and non-verbal communication skills: an actor’s bread and butter. Today Peggy works with lawyers in the City and in numerous other countries, at all levels of their careers…from law students to senior partners. www.advocality.co.uk

Ali Obeid, a non-law graduate from LSE, is best known for his highly-personal and insightful career and university-related YouTube videos, as well as the comprehensive tips and resources that he publishes on LinkedIn. Coming from a lower socio-economic single-parent family, Ali truly understands the struggles of 'fitting in' and 'keeping up' with others, which is why his content focuses on helping students to break barriers and reach new levels, efficiently and effectively. He secured a training contract at White & Case just before sitting his second-year university exams, having also interned at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and is now gearing up to study the GDL and LPC at BPP University. For more information, search for Ali Obeid on YouTube and connect with Ali on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/aliobeid1

John Trimbos is a solicitor and training consultant who specialises in communication skills. He has a background in both the public and private sectors, and provides training and one-to-one coaching for a variety of organisations (including teaching business writing to LPC students at BPP University). John Trimbos provides training courses and one-to-one coaching for a variety of individuals and commercial organisations. For more information, check out www.trimbostraining.com.