US firm Mayer Brown has advised on the creation of a foundation and trust that will allocate $1bn for descendants of slaves.

The Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation was founded by the GU272 Descendants Association and a group of Jesuits – a partnership between the descendants of enslaved people and the descendants of their enslavers. The partnership references events in 1838 when the Jesuit owners of Georgetown University sold 272 enslaved people to plantation owners in Louisiana to pay off the university’s debts. 

The Chicago-based Mayer Brown team that advised on the creation of the foundation and trust was led by private client, trusts and estates partner James Casey and supported by private client, trusts and estates partner Sophia Yanuzzi and two associates.

Casey said: “The Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Trust and the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation have been carefully designed to provide the framework for the long-overdue and much-needed truth, healing, reconciliation and transformation in organisations, communities and individuals in our nation.”

He added: “By supporting these unique institutions through their development years, Mayer Brown is affirming its core commitment to corporate social responsibility to bring about meaningful change in our nation by fighting systemic racism and promoting racial equity.”

The Jesuit Conference of Canada and the US has pledged $100m towards the $1bn target. Once raised, the money will be distributed in $50m increments every year, according to CNN.

Lawyers around the world have been stepping up their focus on racial equality in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement that gained prominence last year following the death of George Floyd.

Last November, Ford's legal department unveiled a four-year law academy programme that aims to boost the number of black students entering the law.

In the UK, magic circle firm Linklaters was one of a handful of firms to sign up to the ‘Halo Code’, a campaign to end hair discrimination for black employees. The Halo Code – which was developed by the Halo Collective – champions and protects the rights of individuals to wear all Afro hairstyles in the workplace.

Linklaters also introduced a race action plan last year to help boost black racial diversity at the firm, putting in place a target to ensure 35% of its trainees every year are from minority ethnic backgrounds in the UK, with at least 10% of them being black. It also set up a black diversity council to oversee the firm’s racial equality efforts.