Cynthia Sassi is an American lawyer and the host of the popular legal podcast, This Week in Law. She earned a degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and her articles have appeared in such esteemed venues as Town Hall Magazine, the New York Times, and American Bar Association’s Online article publication, ABA Journal. Her articles discuss topics ranging from immigration to trademark law, from divorce to contractor malpractice. Sassi frequently speaks about the importance of building nationality in the business world. Her podcasts explore topics such as identity theft, contractor fraud, and the role of ethnicity in business.
It is not uncommon for attorneys to discuss nationalities in business and in their personal lives. For example, there is the case of a man who was fired from his job because his officemates were not native-born Americans, yet another example where an employee in an accounting firm was fired for what her officemates assumed to be anti-American discrimination based on nationality. In one famous case, a judge ruled that the white women of a store called Sweet Cakes & Bakes failed to deserve a percentage of the business because they were of a certain national origin. A number of legal professionals argue that attorneys do not have to discuss nationalities when discussing business issues because they are not allowed to decide or promote a specific nationality over another.
However, attorneys who are very concerned about promoting a specific legal or personal interest do not cross the line, even if they are speaking about nationalities and differences in height, age, gender, or other attributes. There is no reason why a discussion about partner height or partner language skills should involve scrutiny of national origins or differences in gender or orientation. In fact, many attorneys avoid discussing differences in height and weight with their clients unless they have strong evidence of client abuse or neglect. Similarly, there is no reason for attorneys to discuss age or gender with clients unless they have significant evidence of a relationship that would suggest age or gender-based discrimination.