Akil Hunte

Akil Hunte is a lawyer, public speaker, socially conscious entrepreneur, consultant, author, and spoken word poet. He is on a mission to challenge the status quo and inspire the next generation of leaders on their journeys through his value-based leadership principles.

At university, he took responsibility for his future and became a serial winner. He was awarded the Freshfields Stephen Lawrence Scholarship scheme, gaining insights into some of the world’s largest law firms and investment banks. He won two negotiation competitions and three awards for co-founding a society called The New Black, as well as being nominated for ‘Best New Society’ for an event held in collaboration with the UK Youth Delegate of the Congress of the Council of Europe.

He made history in his law school for being awarded the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Contribution for two consecutive years. He was also selected to represent his law school at a nationwide mediation competition against trainee solicitors and pupil barristers. Outside of this, he represented thousands of students at his law school as the law school representative, resulting in a nomination for best student representative by the Student Union. He also sat on the Student Union’s Board of Trustees, being one of two students representing 27,000 students and overseeing a budget of £5 million.

Akil trained as a lawyer at one of the largest law firms in the world and currently works as a lawyer in a music licensing company. He has years of experience guiding and inspiring young professionals on their career journeys.

Through being Chair of NRG Lawyers, Founder of Solicitors in the Making, Founder of LinkedIn Skills for Lawyers and building a following of over 12,000 people on LinkedIn, he has inspired thousands in the legal industry and professional world through his thought leadership. He has also written many blogs and been spotlighted for his work on platforms such as The Law Bore, RARA, Commercial Astuteness, Outside of law, he is committed to doing work to support the African Caribbean heritage community, low-income households and vulnerable communities whilst improving the culture within institutions holding aligned values. Being a young leader at the Aspire Education Group, writing his E-book “Unlocking Yourself After Lockdown”, being MD at The New Black UK, working as an External Consultant to University of Chester, Maxilla City CIC and CEL Solicitors in addition to volunteering at the Manhood Academy, ICS, Crisis, Grenfell Kids Camp and the Big Warm Up are just some ways he has propelled himself forward on his mission.

This has led Akil to speak at colleges, universities, law firms, community organisations and companies across the country. He has spoken at various institutions such as St Charles, Chester, Nottingham Trent, Edinburgh, Roehampton, Commercial Law Academy, Motivez, CEL Solicitors and Protect Accent to name a few. He has facilitated workshops nationally, and internationally in Tanzania, designed to help young professionals between 16-25 to develop personally and professionally. His experiences have also led him to be invited to judge numerous competitions and workshops with Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, Foundervine and The Hebe Foundation.

As a spoken word poet with an entrepreneurial edge and a keen interest in social impact, he is involved in many creative & community-led projects. In 2020, he was an International Delegate at the Bandung Conference in Kenya and is currently involved in entrepreneurial programmes such as Future Boss and Foundervine’s Diverse Founders Programme. He is also co-project lead and a spoken word poet for a UK Collective Music and Visual Project aimed to amplify creative voices, champion community and inspire success and achievement, particularly in the black community. He also organised the community event “Destined For Greatness”, securing the support of Kensington and Chelsea Foundation, Andy Slaughter MP, Maxilla City CIC, Nourish Hub and businesses such as Kurt Geiger, Pizza Express, Nandos, GLL, Laderach, City Career Series, Gapwiz and many more. This was inspired by his spoken word piece, “Destined For Greatness” featuring Tiffany Gosling.

Topics

He speaks on a variety of topics which includes:

• Value-Based Leadership;
• Creating a Champion Mindset to Achieve Ambitious Goals;
• Networking effectively and organically;
• Building confidence in your Identity in the workplace; and

How social mobility, diversity & inclusion creates a better workforce

Building Confidence in Identity at work
Akil’s journey into law has been nothing short of eventful. In this talk, he will talk about how the challenges he navigated in his childhood, early adult life and as a trainee solicitor helped him shape his identity as he became a commercial lawyer. From winning awards to volunteering in Tanzania and witnessing as well as experiencing traumatic events, he has garnered a wealth of experience in navigating his way into professional spaces as a black, working class man.

Value-Based Leadership
Over the years, Akil has developed a range of experiences that has led him into leadership roles at an early age. From representing 27,000 students as a student trustee, to co-founding an award-winning university society and chairing a not for profit to support non-russell group students and graduates, Akil knows the importance of value-based leadership. In his talk, he will explain fundamental principles that help to create value-based leaders and how to develop TRUST in teams.

Creating a Champion Mindset to Achieve Ambitious Goals
Amongst all of the experiences Akil has had, he appreciates that the importance of having a fortified mind is pivotal in navigating obstacles in personal and professional development. Providing perspective on how he fortified his mind after going through trauma and obstacles on his journey helps organisations to discover how they can unleash they full strengths of their workforce.

How social mobility, diversity & inclusion creates a better workforce
As a working class, black law student with an entrepreneurial flair, Akil is far from a typical trainee solicitor. He has an abundance of experience navigating conversations on race, ethnicity and social mobility. Not only was he a recipient of the prestigious Freshfields Stephen Lawrence Scholarship, he co-founded an award winning society called The New Black. This led him to advise the board of Nottingham Trent University on improving opportunities for African Caribbean Heritage students and  become an External Consultant to the University of Chester in the development of their Race Advocate programme. He also chairs NRG Lawyers, a not for profit that seeks to boost social mobility in the legal industry by improving access to opportunities for Non-Russell Group students and graduates.

Networking effectively and organically
Having not had any family members who were connected to law, Akil grew up having to find answers for himself. This led him to build and develop networks across various parts of society to help him on his mission. He has developed a practical set of tools and skills that can allow people to develop their networks effectively and organically, whilst still being true to your authentic self when securing opportunities in your industry.