The Ultimate List of Work and Study Music

I can’t work in silence. And if I’m working with words—which is most of the time—I can’t work while playing typical pop, rock, or hip-hop. So I collect instrumental and foreign-language music on a scale better measured by weeks than by hours. Here are some of my greatest sources of background music for work, studying,…

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Author: Nick Douglas

Colin S. Levy on The Human Lawyer

The Human Lawyer is an interesting label. It is interesting because those of us focused on legal technology have now seen dozens of news articles, columns and blog posts about whether robot lawyers or Artificial Intelligence tools are coming for our jobs. Colin S. Levy’s insightful blog post is not about that subject.

I try to avoid the temptation to do a blog post about a blog post. But we all should understand that the humans working as legal professionals today are definitely under stress and that impacts, among many other things, the business and profession of law. Among the many insightful observations that Professor Richard Susskind has made is that our clients prefer, and are better served by, a fence at the top of a cliff rather than an ambulance at the bottom. I recently listened to another discussion about stress and mental health challenges in the legal profession and thought that this also applies to our profession. While we certainly need the ambulances, and more of them, it is much harder to figure out how to construct the fences. I note the oft-repeated observation that law students begin law school with a very similar psychological profile to the rest of the population and graduate with many of the negative psychological challenges of our profession. This is not to throw all of our problems at the feet of the law schools, but those institutions must be involved along with the rest of us in building the fences.

Some lawyer stress is inevitable. If you have no stress defending a client on charges where the state is seeking the death penalty or while handling a complex multi-million dollar transaction, you wouldn’t be human. But we all understand there’s more to the problem than just this. We have to make important and impactful decisions when the law or ethics rules are unclear. But there’s more to the problem than that as well. Even as I blog about about this blog post, I am determined to avoid spoilers. But I do have two goals. I want you to take the time this week to read Colin S. Levy’s The Human Lawyer and I want you to share it with at least one other legal professional. It’s not an easy or short read, but for some (likely many) it may be very impactful.

 


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Author: Jim Calloway

What factors determine the amount of child support?

When parents go through a divorce, they are naturally concerned about how this process will affect their children. If your marriage is over and you will be starting the divorce process soon, you probably want to know how you can protect the best interests of your children and what your custody and visitation order will be like. You may also have concerns about child support and your financial obligations.

Divorce has serious financial implications for both parents. Whether you have to pay child support or you will receive it, it can be helpful to understand what factors play a role in how the court determines the specific amount that is necessary each month. When you know what to expect, you will be able to avoid conflicts and disputes over the support amount. 

Determining the right amount

It’s normal to have concerns about finances after divorce. However, it may be helpful to remember that the ultimate goal of any child support order is to provide what is necessary for the child to have continuity of lifestyle and his or her basic needs met. When determining how much child support is necessary or what a parent should pay, the following factors are important: 

  • The income of both parents
  • The cost of daycare, tutoring and other needs of the child
  • Whether the child has any special needs
  • The cost of insurance and health care necessities
  • The child’s standard of living

The court tries to be cognizant of the paying parent’s financial capabilities. In addition to the income of both parents, the court will also look at things like taxes, Social Security contributions and more. It does not help to overburden a parent as he or she will not be able to keep up with payments. This only causes more complications down the road. The court will strive to be fair but will keep the needs of the children as the main priority. 

Your post-divorce future

As a parent, you care deeply about the needs and best interests of your children. That does not mean that you cannot pursue a child support order that is fair and sustainable long-term. If you have concerns about your financial obligations after divorce or want to know more about how much child support you may receive, you may want to seek a complete evaluation of your case with an experienced Texas family law attorney.


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Author: On behalf of Katie L. Lewis of Katie L. Lewis, P.C. Family Law

How to Enable Chrome’s New Extension Menu

If you read through my Lifehacker posts, you can figure out pretty quickly that I’m a fan of browser extensions. I have extensions for adding a dark mode to my browser, one of showing previews of sites so I don’t have to open a tab, and even a browser extension for helping me manage all those tabs that I do open.

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Author: Emily Price