diff --git a/eng/black-pyproject.toml b/eng/black-pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..30e6cdc1416e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/eng/black-pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[tool.black]
+line-length = 120
+extend-exclude = '''
+# Exclude some directories from formatting (note the slashes surrounding the pattern)
+/(
+  azure/ai/ml/_restclient
+)/
+'''
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/devops_tasks/validate_formatting.py b/scripts/devops_tasks/validate_formatting.py
index aca9f3475b83..1cf49405c83a 100644
--- a/scripts/devops_tasks/validate_formatting.py
+++ b/scripts/devops_tasks/validate_formatting.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ def run_black(service_dir):
         package_name = os.path.basename(package)
 
         if is_check_enabled(package, "black", True):
-            out = subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, "-m", "black", "-l", "120", "sdk/{}/{}".format(service_dir, package_name)],
+            out = subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, "-m", "black", "--config", os.path.join(root_dir, "eng", "black-pyproject.toml"), os.path.join("sdk", service_dir, package_name)],
                 stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                 stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
                 cwd = root_dir