u/LegalEase88

My brother is with a Cancer woman. She is an amazing person and we all love her. She's been a positive beam of light in my brother's life and has already made him a better person. They met through friends and dated for about six months long distance, then he went to visit her. When they met they both fell for each other deeply. She wanted to get married right away, but they eventually decided to get engaged and have a proper wedding in a few months. My brother then flew back after getting engaged and now they're preparing for the wedding. Everything was going fine, they were talking every day and as far as I know communicating in a healthy manner.

Recently her pet of several years was diagnosed with a fatal illness. She's trying to look after the pet along with things at work, etc. She's been extremely down since then. My whole family has tried to be there for her as much as we can, but we can only check in via text because we all live in a different country and she hasn't been answering her phone. Her mom has been super worried about her too, saying she hasn't been eating properly and hasn't been talking to anyone. We've all been extremely worried about her but decided to hold back and be patient while she goes through this. But recently she's also stopped replying to my brother or picking up his phone. His birthday passed recently and to my knowledge she hasn't wished him, whereas before they were both celebrating monthversaries together and she was constantly sending him gifts etc. And he was sending her gifts all the time too. It's making me wonder if this is just about her pet or if something else has transpired.

Is this normal behavior for a Cancer lady? The wedding planning has stalled too because of this, and at one point when my brother was going to hand out wedding save-the-dates, she said "can't it be later?" She seems to have become disinterested overnight. Our families have become pretty close; what can we all do to show up for her whether she's just grieving over her pet or otherwise?

My brother is very patient and doesn't say much, but he and I are super close and I can tell he's gradually becoming withdrawn again. His ex was a horrible, selfish person who would routinely ice him out to manipulate him. She also spread cruel lies about him to make herself look better when she broke up with him. I'm worried he might silently be experiencing PTSD right now because of the sudden distance. Part of me is also worried maybe someone got to my brother's fiancée with his ex's lies (though it seems highly unlikely). I can't ever imagine this sweet lady behaving like that towards him, but then I also couldn't have imagined a few months ago that she wouldn't even contact him on his birthday.

My brother is a Taurus with a very kind and gentle heart. He is absolutely head over heels in love with his Cancer fiancee. He says his life began when he met her. I love her very much too. I just want both of them to be happy.

Genuine question. My friends and I are about five years into our careers and we all still feel entry level. Those of us who are earning reasonably well are also chained to our desks.

*Not seeking legal advice*

A friend who is a paralegal recently started working for a lawyer. They immediately noticed administrative issues - e.g. lawyer did not have their designated office contact information ready for them, yet expected them to contact clients. L suggested that P use accounts with the name of an old lawyer who used to work there. P was uncomfortable contacting people outside the firm with another lawyer's name, so decided to use the general admin accounts - however, this meant constantly having to badger the admin department, causing delays. It also meant disorganization re: client files.

L is not giving P benefits etc, with the reason that P "will get a cut of the files they work on". L is also paying salary via e-transfer. Refused to pay P for first pay period because P was hired during the second week (it's biweekly) and worked four days instead of five due to a prior commitment which they informed L about at time of hire (L sent offer letter on Saturday evening and P's first day of work was the following Monday. P also wanted to confirm something before signing the offer letter but L did not respond until midday on Monday when P had already given up and signed without an answer to the query because they needed the job.)

P really needs a job so was dealing with all of this. But the biggest issue now is that L is expecting P to put client information (i.e. entire documents, client requests etc) into AI software like Chat or Claude, for drafting purposes. P is extremely uncomfortable doing this, but L has gotten upset with P saying P is taking up too much time drafting. (A lot of the work is outside P's professional scope and experience, and they only just started.) When P brought up client confidentiality concerns, L responded "everyone secretly does this, I'm just admitting it."

L made one of the admins check on P, etc, saying P was wasting time. P is usually the first one in the office and the last one out. In the few days P has worked there, L has made P stay back to do something within ten minutes that they had no prior experience in (P delivered). L also mentioned they don't read their emails because they're busy.

P needs a job, and likes the other lawyers so doesn't mind the disorganization etc as long as they can stay above it. But P has become legitimately concerned for their license over the AI stuff, especially considering that when L hired P they made it sound like P was an employee, but now it seems as though P is a contractor. L is also expecting P to buy AI software for themselves for this purpose. P feels very confused and lost. The one perk for P was that L was offering mentoring, and that P was getting to work on files. But how good can L's mentorship be in this scenario? They don't even have that many clients.

What are your thoughts on P's options in this situation? Could this affect P's standing with the LSO?