My name is Jonathan Harmon and I am chairman of McGuireWoods. As a law firm, we do not always issue public statements on all of the injustices and other societal issues in our communities and in our country. However, given the events of this past week, we felt it very important to do so in this instance.
George Floyd’s death was vicious, senseless and inhumane. No person should have to die like that at the hands of the police or anyone else. George Floyd’s death follows the deaths of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, as well as the distressing use of race against Chris Cooper. These recent events remind us that although we have made progress in our laws and in our society in the area of race, there is still much work to be done.
At McGuireWoods we are targeting and focusing on justice, peace and positive long-lasting change, because all of us here want everyone to be treated equally and to be free from fear. As a result, we have put together a very diverse group of our lawyers – young and not so young – to strategize and to develop a plan for the communities in which we work and where we can make a difference on how to make racial equality with the police a reality.
At McGuireWoods we are looking forward to engaging in our communities to bring about positive long-lasting change.