Tammy Albarran, deputy general counsel, Uber Technologies (Courtesy photo)

Tammy Albarrán, the deputy general counsel at Uber, has led the company's adoption of new hiring practices, increasing pay parity among men and women lawyers. Albarrán has also worked to foster an inclusive workplace in the wake of her prior work as outside counsel for Uber at Covington & Burling investigating the factors that contributed to the company's culture. Albarrán, who is being recognized as one of 21 Women Leaders in Tech Law as part of The Recorder's California Leaders in Tech Law and Innovation Awards, recently reflected on her accomplishments of the past year.

What's your proudest professional achievement of the past year and why?

Tammy Albarrán: I'm incredibly proud to be a part of driving the enormous strides we have made as a company to improve our culture. It really has started with our tone at the top—from our board, to the CEO, to our executive leadership team. It has been a priority for them, and by extension is a priority for all of us at Uber. On the Legal team, 8 of our 13 leaders are women (~60%) and nearly half are underrepresented minorities. This is critical because the research confirms that diverse teams drive better results.

What's your proudest personal achievement of the past year and why?

My family! They keep me grounded and reinforce what is truly important in life! I have an incredibly supportive husband with whom I am raising three children to be self-aware, to stand up for what is right and to always be kind. Despite the demands of my role, I prioritize my family. It is not always easy, but having a strong sense of what is important, not just to me but to them, has helped make sure that I don't miss an important milestone or school activity and that I am in the stands cheering at (almost all of) their sporting events.

What's one piece of advice you'd give to a woman starting out in tech law?

Take on challenging assignments and opportunities that make you uncomfortable, and don't be afraid to fail. You will learn more about yourself, what you are capable of achieving and resiliency by pushing yourself beyond what feels safe.

What concrete steps could be made to increase the number of women in tech law?

It starts with intentionality. You have to be intentional and deliberate about who you hire, especially for leadership roles, either internally or as outside counsel. Since you cannot improve what you don't measure, at Uber, we have adopted the Mansfield Rule, under which we commit to considering at least 50% historically underrepresented lawyers for most of our internal roles and matters handled by outside counsel. We also partner with our preferred counsel on pipeline initiatives like the Law in Technology Diversity Collaborative to provide mentoring, training and career opportunities to women and diverse law students. Finally, we are building a robust Outside Counsel Diversity Program to provide more business opportunities for women and diverse lawyers, and we direct our external spend to those firms whose diversity and inclusion metrics and initiatives exceed those of their peer firms.