Baker McKenzie rolls out task force to fight racism and promote diversity
International law firm Baker McKenzie has unveiled a global task force to combat racism and build greater inclusion and equality both within the firm and throughout the legal sector.
The firm’s Global Race and Ethnicity Task Force, announced on July 3, will implement programmes to advance racial and ethnic diversity across its 77 offices worldwide.
The task force will oversee anti-racism training, the sponsorship of black lawyers and members of other underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, and a review of recruitment and client programmes. The firm said this work will be closely connected to programmes on social mobility and will help progress its other diversity and inclusion programmes.
The task force will be led by Miguel Noyola, a partner based in its Chicago office, and members include lawyers Claudia Benavides, Anna Brown, Sunny Mann, Anna Mello, Yoshiaki Muto, Veleka Peeples-Dyer, Joyce Smith, Kate Stonestreet and Constanze Ulmer-Eilfort.
Earlier this week, 17 law firms signed up to a UK charter, the Race Fairness Commitment (RFC), pledging to combat the career obstacles faced by ethnic minorities in the legal sector.
In the UK, black lawyers make up just 3% of the total number of lawyers in firms and both black and Asian lawyers remain significantly underrepresented in mid to large-size firms of six or more partners, according to statistics published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
Constanze Ulmer-Eilfort, chair of Baker McKenzie’s global diversity and inclusion committee said: "Advancing racial and ethnic diversity has always been one of our most important diversity and inclusion priorities and this task force will strive to effect change and to really make a difference.
“As a firm we are proud of what we have achieved together on gender diversity and on LGBT+ inclusion. We can and must also make similar progress on racial and ethnic diversity.
"Change starts from within, and we must all embrace the need for change together. We are encouraging everyone to learn, reflect and work to become a more active ally. We need to open our minds and our hearts to the experiences of our Black community—there is so much for us to learn, to understand, and to reflect upon before change happens."
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