Bari A. Williams
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Articles by Bari A. Williams
The Model is Not the Answer: Choose Legal AI Based on What Your Team Needs
Every few weeks, a new AI model launches with a press release full of benchmark numbers. Legal media reports that it scores higher on reasoning tests, handles longer context windows, and generates output faster than others in the market. And somewhere in your organization, someone forwards the article with a question: Should we switch? Most of those teams don’t have the wrong model. They have the wrong evaluation framework.
The Habit You Can’t Afford: Calling Outside Counsel for Routine Contracts
Here is what the outside counsel reflex actually costs: an associate at a top firm billing $600 an hour to review a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that your team could have handled. Weeks added to a routine vendor agreement because nobody had a playbook for that jurisdiction. A deal that should have closed last quarter still sitting in legal. Most in-house legal teams have not updated their review infrastructure to match the scope of the business they support.
Tasks to Teammates: How to Delegate Legal Work to AI Agents
Bärí A. Williams leads LegalOn ’s legal and legal content teams. An attorney with 16+ years in tech transactions, she blends legal expertise with industry insight. Previously, she held pivotal roles at Meta (Facebook) and StubHub, shaping innovative legal strategies. Her email is: bari.williams@legalontech.com . Once artificial intelligence (AI) starts behaving like a teammate, we have to think about treating it like one.
AI Adoption 101: How to Treat AI Like a New Colleague on Your Legal Team
For years, AI in legal felt more hype than help. Promises of “100% accuracy” fell apart when AI hallucinations made headlines in court filings. But things are changing. The technology is maturing. Speaking from experience, in-house legal departments are under growing pressure to execute strategic AI adoption—especially for tools that take on the tedious, repetitive tasks that slow business down. When I think about adding AI to my department, I treat it like hiring a new team member.
Zuckerberg has shown us who he really is. Believe him
During my tenure at Facebook, now Meta, from 2014 to 2017, posters were plastered all over the grounds. “The job is only 1% done.” “Move fast and break things.” I was struck by one in particular on my first day of orientation: “Nothing at Facebook is someone else’s problem.” No matter my department or title, I had permission to take ownership of a problem and fix it. It’s the corporate version of “If you see something, say something,” or, in this case, do something.
Mark Zuckerberg ya nos mostró quién es en Meta, hay que creerle
Trabajé en Facebook –ahora Meta– varios años; de 2014 a 2017, específicamente. Había carteles pegados por todo el lugar: “El trabajo está hecho solo en un 1%”. “Muévete rápido y rompe cosas”. Uno en particular me llamó la atención en mi primer día de orientación: “Nada en Facebook es problema de alguien más”. Sin importar mi departamento o cargo, tenía permiso para hacerme cargo de un problema y solucionarlo. Es la versión corporativa de “Si ves algo, di algo” o, en este caso, haz algo.
Opinion | Mark Zuckerberg, in with Trump now, is no longer pretending to care about diversity Original
When asked in recent interviews, “What has been your greatest career achievement to date?” I haven’t hesitated to say I created and launched Facebook’s Supplier Diversity Program. With that program, Facebook (it wasn’t Meta yet) committed to integrating diversity into the fabric of the company, not just through improving employee representation, but also by strategically engaging demographics with large spending power to make better products and reflect our user base.
Start to my Senior Year
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Kamala Harris is standing at the edge of a glass cliff. As a Black woman, I've been there too
Vice President Kamala Harris and I have a lot in common: we are both Black girls from East Oakland, AKA sorority sisters; we are both graduates of UC Hastings Law College. When Harris was District Attorney of San Francisco, she gave the keynote address at my Black Law Students Association event at my request. In fact, she was one of the first people I told I was pregnant when she asked me directly why I wasn’t drinking the wine at the fundraiser we had for her AG run in my house.
How tech’s biggest products get designed to exclude people of color
In addition to unionization for more humane working conditions, employees are on the front lines fighting for a say in how companies deploy their products and to whom to ensure they’re not being weaponized. Big tech companies have seen more of this activism in the last few years, with protests regarding issues ranging from facial recognition products sold to governments to virtual reality products used to train soldiers to be more “effective” at their jobs.
How tech’s biggest products get designed to exclude people of color
In addition to unionization for more humane working conditions, employees are on the front lines fighting for a say in how companies deploy their products, and to whom, to ensure they’re not being weaponized. Big tech companies have seen more of this activism in the last few years, with protests regarding issues ranging from facial recognition products sold to governments to virtual reality products used to train soldiers to be more “effective” at their jobs.
Junior SZN
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28 Best HR Books You Should Read In 2023
9. Agile HR: Deliver Value in a Changing World of Work Authors: Natal Dank and Riina Hellström Agile is prevalent project management methodology in tech world and, as Dank and Hellström argue, HR professional and teams can use it too. They take you through why and how HR professionals and teams can break out of the traditional ways of thinking about delivering HR services to a more ‘customer’-focused, iterative approach.
This is how to tell if your allyship is just performative
By Bärí a. Williams 5 minute Read In the last year a lot of white people finally woke up to the vast inequities that people of color have lived with for generations. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are a must-have, not a nice-to-have, for every company and employee, and so true allyship has become essential. But it’s clear now that many of the pledges for reform were just performative allyship. There is a stark difference between performative allyship and real allyship.
This is how companies can get Juneteenth right this year
By Bärí a. Williams 3 minute Read I have today off. Reason being? It’s Juneteenth. The difference between my company, Bandwagon, having the day off and the treasure trove of companies granting the day off is also inherent in the work. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder last summer, a lot of companies started to grant Juneteenth off as a holiday, but did they educate their employees on what it means? Do they know why it is significant, why there should be a day off? All signs point to no.
Did tech companies keep their promises one year after George Floyd’s d
By Bärí a. Williams 4 minute Read After the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 (and Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor before that) and the summer of protests the followed in the midst of a global pandemic, tech companies realized the mental and emotional fatigue of their Black employees and suddenly scrambled to make loud and boisterous statements in support of Black Lives Matter.
Social media is an extension of white privilege in the office
By Bärí a. Williams5 minute Read Most people have a vision of what being professional is, the attire, and the image that accompanies the designation. Once upon a time, it meant skirts only for women, and tailored suits and ties for men. Interoffice relations included the unspoken but enforced in-office rule was to always smile and be pleasant, and avoid any controversial topics like race, religion, and finances. As the workplace evolved, so did the definition of professional attire and image.
The Y2K Scare Felt Eerily Similar to Coronavirus' Toilet Paper Panic
The first global catastrophe of the 21st century started with a computer bug, not an actual viral bug, which is currently causing chaos on a massive scale. Though it wasn’t a pandemic, Y2K, a computer bug born out of trying to ensure cost savings for companies, ushered in panic-inflicting predictions that left many of us wondering what 2000 and beyond would look like.
Unsurprisingly, women continue to face an evolving intersection of problems at work
By Bärí a. Williams10 minute Read Women are often subject to second-class citizenship as they work toward professional success. Even when they gain positions of power, women are regularly judged on everything from how “nice” they are to how willing they are to take on the emotional baggage of their colleagues.
Are companies forgetting about diversity efforts during COVID?
By Bärí a. Williams6 minute Read Everyone I know from my community, and most that I know from any marginalized community (people of color, women, LGBTQ, differently abled), has heard some form of the two adages, “Last hired, first fired,” and “You have to be twice as good as them to get half of what they have.” In essence, be prepared to do more for less.
Richelieu Dennis’ Blueprint For Community Conscious Capitalism
Photo by Daniel McCullough on Unsplash The Deal — The Blueprint To business owners who endeavor to do better or the socially conscious wealthy who want to help close the wealth gap, you should study Unilever’s acquisition of Sundial. The $240 million dollar deal crafted by Sundial’s co-founder and CEO, Richelieu Dennis included an initial $50 million dollar investment to the New Voices Fund for women of color entrepreneurs in 2017. He could have quietly walked away with his fortune.
Let’s hope these key tech issues aren’t ignored on tonight’s less-diverse debate stage
By Bärí a. Williams4 minute Read The boom and potential bust of the tech sector have taught us many things in recent years. First, every idea that includes an app or website isn’t truly a “tech” company, and doesn’t require billions of dollars in funding. Second, if the product is free, then you’re the product. Third, if there is a way to automate something or make it solely on-demand, the industry will certainly try.
Black women are the key to victory in 2020. Stop ignoring them
By Bärí a. Williams4 minute Read There are now 21 (and counting) candidates seeking the Democratic party’s 2020 presidential nomination. With the most diverse slate ever seen in either party (five women, an Asian-American, two African Americans, and one openly gay candidate), curiously, the top 5 spots consistently vacillate between four different white men: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Beto O’Rourke, and Pete Buttigieg.
Those in power need to stop using black women as props
By Bärí a. Williams5 minute Read My grandmother had a saying for when I used to complain about something–“Well, black folks, especially black women, are the mules of the world. We work full-time jobs, are full-time mothers, and are full-time caretakers of the community.
Trump’s New Facebook Lawsuit Is a Trojan Horse
Imagine crafting an ad only for white people. Maybe you narrow down the targeting to a certain location and slice out certain ages for good measure. That might make sense if you’re trying to sell a cream-colored foundation in your Manhattan boutique, but you’d be ill-advised to try it for advertising housing or jobs — because it’s against the law.
Why Beto reminds me of a startup founder who's failing upwards
By Bärí a. Williams5 minute Read The cult of personality is a curious thing. It can be disarming, powerful, and potent enough to trump experience and logic (pun intended). In elections, affable candidates who position themselves in the style of being “just like you,” “the type of guy you’d have a beer with,” or able to say things that voters wish they could say are seemingly able to override substance on the sheer strength of their relatability and likability.
Black Cool And Weaponized Technology
By Bari A. Williams · March 1, 2019March 1, 2019 A familiar voice booms in the background in a commercial extolling the virtues of artificial intelligence (A.I.) technology. The voice’s slight accent and cadence suggest, without even looking up that it’s the voice of a Black man. “It’s possibility. It’s adaptability. It’s capability.” The voice spitting the spoken word on the value of technology and Microsoft A.I. belongs to Common.
The prison-reforming First Step Act has a critical software bug
By Bärí a. Williams5 minute Read The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Often in a rush of excitement and eagerness to solve a problem, or to alleviate a particularly thorny issue, people will champion a solution without being aware of all of the possibilities and potential pitfalls, intentional or otherwise, or blatantly ignore the risks because the reward seems so great.
The answer to tech's ethical problems is greater diversity
By Bärí a. Williams5 minute Read Principles and profit are not mutually exclusive. The balance between being profitable and being principled is only as hard as a business leader makes it. Some in Silicon Valley think hiring a chief ethics officer will help save their company from their own potential missteps. However, I would posit that the larger issue links back to the lack of diversity at tech companies. Ethical issues are diversity issues.
The state of black women getting funding in 2018
Related: This Is What It’s Like To Be The Only Black Woman Founder At A Pitch Event Founding starts with funding. While Richelieu Dennis, founder of Shea Moisture and owner of Essence Ventures, recently launched the $100 million New Voices Fund to resolve the disparity in funding by investesting in companies owned and/or managed by women of color, there are larger systemic issues at play.
Opinion | Tech’s Race Problem Beyond the Numbers
OAKLAND — Last week, members of the Congressional Black Caucus visited Silicon Valley, on a trip largely dedicated to pushing major tech companies to increase the racial diversity of their workforces. That is an important goal, but it’s not enough for the Apples, Twitters and PayPals of the world to employ a particular number of members of racial minority groups.
I Can’t Wait For There To Be A Black Elizabeth Holmes
By Bärí a. Williams4 minute Read Close your eyes and imagine a young tech founder with the right pedigree, lots of potential, a game-changing product that no one’s ever seen. Someone with an air of mystery and eccentricity who’s able to fundraise with ease and stack a board with political and business icons. A founder who becomes a media darling–and then loses it all in disgrace after the government declares it a sham. Now open your eyes and imagine that founder is a black woman.
Two Ways VCs Can Curb Sexual Harassment Starting Right Now
If you hire the right people and create an inclusive environment, they’ll enforce the right processes that will yield the right products and lead to profit. However, it’s up to VCs to look under the hood and ask hard questions to find out whether a company really is ready for additional funding. Like what? Try these: Does the product/service solve a large problem of many, or a “first-world problem” of a few? If not many, what’s missing in order to gain market share–and coins?
Opinion | ‘Intelligent’ Policing and My Innocent Children (Published 2017)
Opinion Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. Credit...Jonathan Djob Nkondo OAKLAND, Calif. — Last month I spoke at a gathering of African-American technology professionals. I’m a transactional lawyer at a tech company and my husband is an engineer, so the industry is at the center of our lives.
The Need for Inclusion in AI and Machine Learning - InformationWeek
If companies are forward-thinking in their application of predictive analytics, AI, and machine learning they can make these technologies inclusive, and available and relevant to all people. Imagine if something not designed with you or anyone like you in mind was the driving force of how regular interactions permeate your life.
Tech's troubling new trend: Diversity is in your head
Discussing her work at Apple at an event last week about fighting racial injustice, Denise Young Smith, the company’s vice-president of diversity and inclusion, said, “There can be 12 white, blue-eyed, blonde men in a room and they’re going to be diverse, too, because they’re going to bring a different life experience and life perspective to the conversation.” That’s right: A dozen white men, so long as they were not raised in the same household and don’t think identical thoughts could be...
One Reason Black Founders Don’t Get Enough Funding? Black VCs Don’t, Either
The fact that African-American founders have limited access to investment has been well documented, but you might not know that that problem is replicated in the venture capital world, too. In recent years, several black-owned or -directed VC funds and firms have opened their doors, with a focus on minority- and women-owned businesses. But as it turns out, many VCs are hitting the same obstacle as the founders they’re trying to invest in: access to capital.
This Is How Some Black Women Are Skirting Racism And Sexism To Find Fu
Related: The Tech Industry’s Missed Opportunity: Funding Black Women Founders Increasingly women of color are creating their own innovative and creative funding routes and their own networks, circumventing landmines of sexism, sexual harassment, and prejudice when seeking fundraise.
How I Got Facebook to Invest in Minority-Owned Businesses
When most people think about diversity, they think recruiting and hiring, and it ends there. They are mistaken. To be successful, a company's stated commitment to diversity must go beyond recruiting and tracking gender, race, nationality, sexuality, and age of employees in an HR system. True diversity, and more importantly inclusion, sets the company’s culture. It says, we not only hire black women but we invest in the neighborhoods in which they live.
The Tech Industry’s Missed Opportunity: Funding Black Women Founders
By Bärí a. Williams 7 minute Read This is a tale of two tech startups. The first is a messaging app that allows a user to send a one-word greeting to a friend and nothing more. There is no messaging functionality, filtering features, or ability to provide a longer message. In time, it will come to send notifications for followers, with the message, “Yo,” and a link. The second startup is also a messaging app.
You'll Never Guess Who Does Diversity Right: Uber
When Uber released its diversity report in late March, the tech and business press responded with a collective long sigh and declared the report more of the same. But the report was actually not business as usual; it showed progress in areas where larger tech titans are lagging. The ride-sharing company has struggled to address issues of sexism and gender parity, with reports of harassment and discrimination. Uber’s diversity report shows that only 36 percent of the workforce are women.
8 Ways To Measure Diversity That Have Nothing To Do With Hiring
It’s almost that time of year when America’s top tech companies release their annual reports offering the public a glimpse into the number of underrepresented employees across their ranks. Uber kick started it when the ride-hailing company released its figures this Spring; during the summer months ahead, other tech companies are expected to release their reports. While they offer a glance into how companies are faring in the diversity department, they don’t tell the full story.
Tech Needs to Do the Work to Find Black Excellence, but You Can Do Your Part, Too
The Uber fallout of recent weeks makes something my grandmother used to tell me more important than ever now: “To get something you don’t have, you’ll have to do something you haven’t done. You’re a black woman. So, to do that, you’ll have to work twice as hard to get half as far.” However, the onus isn’t just on us. There are two things tech must acknowledge and fix to make change:1.
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