Love Addiction

Love addiction is a human behavior in which people become addicted to the feeling of being in love. Love addicts can take on many different behaviors. Love addiction is common; however, most love addicts do not realize they are addicted to love. Love addiction treatment with various recovery techniques, most of which are similar to recovery from other addictions such as sex addiction and alcoholism, through group meetings and support groups. The normal process of falling into love addiction begins when a person begins to feel sympathy with another person after going through an initially innocent moment of attraction and automatically idealizes the other to the point of divinity. The individual is blindly attaches to the other person, becoming incapable of making a realistic analysis of the situation; they may project all kinds of illusions onto the other person, believing them to be the only one that can bring happiness. This process can be very quick. For some, this a brief experience that is only the first step toward a more mature relationship. There are, however, those who never go past this stage of blind love. Obsession can be the primary symptom of any addiction. In love addiction, the individual's insecurity gives rise to an obsessive attachment to the object of their affection. It typically manifests as an insatiable hunger that distorts the person's perception of reality and often results in various unhealthy behaviors and suffering. The typical love addict demonstrates the most predictable relational patterns for the majority of people who fall into addictive relationships. Repeatedly they become preoccupied and obsessed with attaining or keeping the perfect person, soul mate, Superman, or Wonder Woman who will make their lives meaningful and give them unconditional love with positive regard. In their obsession, fantasy, and denial they quickly fall into and become infatuated in relationships. Essentially their identity is only through their relationship with their partner. Because of impaired boundaries, they are in constant pursuit of merging with their partner; therefore, they become overly dependent clingy and smother their partners. They take all focus off themselves escaping while throwing themselves into their partner's life. They try to earn love and attention that will avoid abandonment and being alone. Romantic love addicts are romance junkies and relationship hoppers. They compulsively hop from one infatuated relationship to another in an attempt to keep their supply dependency or addiction going. Initially they often believe they are in love with a person they start a relationship with, but they do not truly fall in love. Romantic love addicts are addicted to the fantasy created in their minds and have false hopes unrealistic expectation that one day they will find the right one who somehow will keep the rush, passion, and intensity going all the time—an impossible task for anyone. The sex and love addict displays the uniform patterns of the typical love addict, but the additional characteristic is the sex and love addict type also is highly preoccupied with sex and sexual fantasies with only one particular person, usually a romantic partner. They are not in love with their partner so much as they are in love with the sexual acts with their partner. The sex and love addict rarely seeks sex outside of a romantic relationship unlike the pure sex addict. The sexual obsession with one partner becomes a significant driving force for staying in a relationship. Like most love addicts, they will tolerate misery and pain in a relationship; however, they do it solely for maintaining sexual intimacy with that one person.

Law Firm

A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise client’s individuals or corporations about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other matters in which legal advice and other assistance are sought.

In many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, there is a rule that only lawyers may have an ownership interest in, or be managers of, a law firm. Thus, law firms cannot quickly raise capital through initial public offerings on the stock market, like most corporations. In the United States this rule is promulgated by the American Bar Association and is adhered to in all U.S. jurisdictions, except the District of Columbia. The U.K. has a similar rule, but in recent years law firms have been able to take on a limited number of non-lawyer partners.

The rule was created in order to prevent conflicts of interest. In the adversarial system of justice, a lawyer has a duty to be a zealous and loyal advocate on behalf of the client, and also has a duty to not bill the client unreasonably. Also, as an officer of the court, a lawyer has a duty to be honest and to not file frivolous cases or raise frivolous defenses. A lawyer working as a shareholder-employee of a publicly traded law firm would be strongly tempted to evaluate decisions in terms of their effect on the stock price and the shareholders, which would directly conflict with the lawyer's duties to the client and to the courts.

Law firms are typically organized around partners, who are joint owners and business directors of the legal operation; associates, who are employees of the firm with the prospect of becoming partners; and a variety of staff employees, providing paralegal, clerical, and other support services. An associate may have to wait as long as 9 years before the decision is made as to whether the associate "makes partner." Many law firms have an "up or out policy" pioneered around 1900 by partner Paul Cravath of Cravath, Swaine & Moore: associates who do not make partner are required to resign and join another firm, go it alone as a solo practitioner, go to work in-house in a corporate legal department, or change professions burnout rates are very high in law.

Making partner is very prestigious at large or midsized firms, due to the competition that naturally results from higher associate-to-partner ratios. Such firms may take out advertisements in legal newspapers to announce who has made partner. Traditionally, partners shared directly in the profits of the firm, after paying salaried employees, the landlord, and the usual costs of furniture, office supplies, and books for the law library or a database subscription. Partners in a limited liability partnership can largely operate autonomously with regard to cultivating new business and servicing existing clients within their book of business. However, many large law firms have moved to a two-tiered partnership model, with equity and non-equity partners. Equity partners are considered to have ownership stakes in the firm, and share in the profits and losses of the firm. Non-equity partners are generally paid a fixed salary albeit much higher than associates, and they are often granted certain limited voting rights with respect to firm operations. The oldest continuing partnership in the United States is that of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, founded in 1792 in New York City.