Voluntary Team
Jasmin Zara
Founder & CEO
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Jasmin is currently a fourth-year LLB student at the University of Exeter and is the former Service Manager for Support Through Court (Cardiff).
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Having attended six different state schools and leaving compulsory education due to racial bullying, Jasmin self-taught herself GCSEs and A-levels, beginning a journey to enhance social mobility following her tumultuous educational experience.
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Florence Goodayle
Director of Enhance
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Florence is a final year LLB student at Brunel University London. As an aspiring criminal barrister, she has a keen interest in criminal justice policy and is an advocate for the role of young people in peace building.
She is passionate about championing social mobility by tackling the barriers facing state educated students and improving access to the Bar, particularly for students attending non-Russell group universities.
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Alexia Philippidou
Co Director of Mentorship
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Alexia is a penultimate-year student pursuing her Common Law LLB degree at the University of Glasgow and has a deep-seated interest in the legal profession, particularly the Bar. Her unwavering passion lies in promoting equal access to opportunities and eliminating any barriers that stand in the way of one's goals.
As the co-founder and current President of her university's Bar Society, GUBAS, she has first-hand knowledge of the lack of accessible information shared regarding becoming a barrister. She is deeply committed to creating an environment where aspiring barristers can readily access the information and opportunities needed to achieve their goals.
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Jelani Allman
COO & Trustee
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Jelani is in his final year reading Law at the University of Oxford.
As a state-educated student who moved to a Grammar Sixth Form, Jelani first became aware of the disparity of resources in education. His understanding crystallised upon reaching Oxford, where the divide became even starker. He therefore dedicates his time to enabling the success of the next generations of ambitious state-educated students.
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Clemmie Smith
Director of Advocate
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Clemmie is a recent graduate in Philosophy and Politics MA from the University of Edinburgh. During her studies, she balanced academic pursuits with various professional roles, including research positions across different fields. Her experience encompasses political research, social welfare, and justice system reform, all of which she's eager to contribute to the Advocate programme at State2Bar. Currently working as a contract manager in media-specific M&A, she's enthusiastic about shifting her career focus towards law.
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Clemmie places a strong emphasis on sharing research skills to facilitate the professional growth of others. She firmly believes that these skills have the potential to create diverse opportunities for career advancement across various fields.
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Cazra Gaznavi
Co Director of Mentorship
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Cazra is entering her penultimate year reading law at the University of Cambridge. She is serving as the Class Act Officer at her college because she believes that access to further opportunity does not necessarily become easier once entering a university programme when the knowledge of resources and paths are not exposed to students from a young age. The divide therefore, seems starker at higher levels as the paths to the bar are more convoluted.
As such, she believes very strongly that mentoring younger students and providing them with information of the various paths will encourage them to pursue a career at the bar and hopefully show them that it’s possible, regardless of any background.
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Joey Liu
Jardine Barrington-Cook
Operations Manager
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Jardine is a final year Law student at the University of Oxford. State-educated and interested in the bar himself, he is passionate about helping other state-educated students achieve that goal. He has observed the stark differences in opportunities and help provided to the privately educated, particularly at university, and so he is committed to helping bridge that gap.
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Beatrice Yahia
Director of Achieve
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Beatrice is a current Bar Course student at Cardiff University. Drawing upon both personal experience and having worked as a caseworker within the sector for many years, Beatrice wishes to pursue a career in social welfare and public law.
She is state-school educated with a passion for social mobility.
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Elizabeth Akalumhe
General Secretary
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Liz is an LLB graduate (Honours) from the University of Exeter. She has completed her LLM and Bar training from BPP University London and currently studying towards the NY bar. She currently works in Legal Operations at Palantir Technologies supporting attorneys specializing in Commercial matters, International Governance and Privacy law. With experience in finance, energy and now tech, she will be undertaking pupillage in 2024
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Director of Finance
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Gaurav is an LLB graduate (Honours) from Cardiff University and is currently undertaking his Bar Course at the Inns of Court College of Advocacy, while being a research assistant to a Kings Counsel and an experienced junior simultaneously in the fields of Tax and Maritime Law.
From a young age he was taught the nobility in giving back to people in need and is hoping to make a contribution by volunteering with State2Bar.
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Director of Sponsorship and Funding
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Joey is a Trusts and Supporter Care Fundraiser at a sport for employment charity. She graduated from the University of Exeter with a BA in History.
Following her experience in the third sector combined with her passion to support marginalised groups, Joey is committed to advancing the education and employability of state-educated students.
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Gaurav Sachanandani
Trustees
Jasmin Zara
Grace Osbourne
Grace's passion for social mobility developed working as a teacher in the West Midlands on the Teach First training programme after she graduated. From that point onwards her career has focused on eliminating educational inequality and supporting social mobility. She worked in the charity sector for 5 years, supporting recruitment and partnering with schools.
In 2021 she moved to the Social Mobility function at PwC, running outreach programmes for schools in social mobility coldspots. Her role now is Social Inclusion Manager - supporting the inclusion of staff from all socio-economic levels for 26,000 UK staff.
Grace is also a dedicated volunteer, alongside her role at State2Bar she is a school governor for a local primary school; mentors and coaches with the Social Mobility Foundation and Unlocked Graduates.
Jelani Allman
Emily Martin
Emily is a Senior Clerk at 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square Chambers and guides Chambers' clients to make an informed decision when selecting Counsel. Her experience and extensive knowledge of members and their practices means she can swiftly and efficiently offer helpful input to clients and provide fee quotes when necessary. Emily’s main focus is on building new and maintaining existing client relationships to meet their business needs.
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Emily works closely with the Senior Practice teams to provide first class customer service, administration, and business development strategies. She is described by the Legal 500 as ‘very personable and professional’.
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Emily has a BA English degree from The University of London, Birkbeck.
Joey Liu
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Florence Rankin
Florence has 8 years in the public sector, bringing a range of experience to the Board.
As someone who took a slightly unconventional route - an apprenticeship, a graduate scheme, before now completing a law degree - social mobility is a large passion for me. Given my experiences, supporting increasing diversity of the bar and thus the legal community is something that is close to my heart.
Richard Fielder
Richard has been working in the financial services sector for over 22 years. During that time he has gained experience in all fields of Regulatory Compliance and specifically in the management of Financial Crime Risk at a number of a multi-national investment firms and Banks. Richard is currently the Chief Compliance Officer at ICBC Standard Bank Plc.
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Richard has been an internal champion of social mobility enterprises at all the firm’s in which he has worked, encouraging and participating in engagement with state schools in deprived areas. He is also the ‘Wellbeing’ sponsor, championing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion activities across his current organisation from the position of being a department head.
Duncan McCombe
Duncan has been a practicing barrister in the Chancery and Commercial fields for ten years. He is a former Chair of the Young Bar of England and Wales.
Duncan believes that an independent Bar, committed to the rule of law and representing clients without fear or favour is a clear social good. Yet the Bar will only survive if it can attract the best people to its ranks.
Currently, however, the Bar is missing out on a large number of hugely able people because it is not seen (and in some ways actually is not) a profession that is sufficiently open to state school applicants. Duncan would like to change that through his trusteeship of State2Bar.