Christine Lagarde is the eleventh Managing Director of the IMF and the first woman to hold this position. She took up her current post in July 2011. Previously, Christine Lagarde was a member of the French government, which she joined in June 2005 as Minister for Foreign Trade. In June 2007, she became the first woman to hold the post of Finance and Economy Minister of a G-7 country. From July to December 2008, she chaired the ECOFIN Council. When France took over the G-20 presidency for the year 2011, she, as Chairman, launched a wide-ranging work agenda on the reform of the international monetary system. Christine Lagarde started her career in the international law firm of Baker& McKenzie, where she became Chairman of the Global Executive Committee in 1999 and subsequently Chairman of the Global Strategic Committee in 2004. Christine Lagarde was named Officier in the Légion d'honneur in April 2012.