Baker McKenzie has formed a new global race and ethnicity task force, the firm said in a statement on Wednesday.

The task force will work across the firm's 77 worldwide offices to help implement and operate programs advancing racial and ethnic diversity.

The task force will be led by Chicago-based partner Miguel Noyola along with nine other members of the firm including Bogota partner Claudia Benavides, New York-based global director of D&I Anna Brown, London-based partner Sunny Mann and global director of operations Kate Stonestreet.

The team also comprises Rio de Janeiro lawyer Anna Mello, Tokyo partner Yoshiaki Muto, Washington D.C. partner Veleka Peeples-Dyer, San Francisco partner Joyce Smith, and Frankfurt-based chair of the firm's global D&I committee Constanze Ulmer-Eilfort.

The team's role will be to oversee allyship and anti-racism training, the sponsorship of Black and other underrepresented colleagues, as well as a review of its recruitment and client programs across the firm's global offices.

Constanze Ulmer-Eilfort, chair of the firm's global D&I committee, said in a statement: "Advancing racial and ethnic diversity has always been one of our most important D&I 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."

The new task force is the latest in a refreshed commitment from a number of global law firms, as the issue of racial injustice has swept the globe following protests supporting the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

Several law firms have donated to various organizations promoting racial justice and the abolition of systemic racism, and issued strongly-worded statements about their commitment to inward and outward measures.

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