Armstrong Teasdale

These layoffs are meant to ‘streamline’ the firm’s operations.

NYC isn't the Big Apple of this firm's eye in terms of cash compensation.

Carrying the entire weight of a law firm on your shoulders is hard work.

He didn't have a drop to drink... oh wait, yes he did.

* We know our readers: here’s the only news that you care about this morning. This is the roster of salary movement news from Friday and Saturday: Desmarais, Brown Rudnick, Susman Godfrey, White & Case, Shearman & Sterling, and Baker Botts. If you’re ever worried that you’ve missed any of our coverage, check out our omnibus 2016 salary page where we collect all of these stories. [2016 Salary Increase / Above the Law]

* You may be wondering why some law firms in your city haven’t hopped on board the Cravath-inspired MoneyLaw train yet. It’s apparently all about competing market forces. John Beulick, Armstrong Teasdale’s new managing partner, says he’s considering bumping up associate pay because “[w]e want to and need to be competitive in our markets to have the talent that clients want us to have.” [Big Law Business]

* Speaking of raises for associates in flyover country, four Texas-based firms and seven national firms with offices in the Lone Star state have already announced matches to the new Cravath scale. Three more Texas firms — Akin Gump, Haynes and Boone, and Andrews Kurth — are expected to follow suit in the coming days. Please be sure to send us your firm’s memos ASAP after raises are announced! [Dallas Morning News]

* WHATCHA GONNA DO, BROTHER, WHEN LITIGATION FINANCE RUNS WILD ON YOU?!? Thanks to billionaire Peter Thiel’s financial assistance, Hulk Hogan bodyslammed Gawker into submission with a multimillion-dollar jury verdict. After declaring bankruptcy and entering into an asset purchase agreement, the media company is investigating possible legal claims against the venture capitalist. [Forbes]

* “I don’t really think [this lawsuit] has legs.” Doctors in California are filing suit to block The End of Life Option Act, a new state law that legalizes physician-assisted suicide. They claim that the law violates the state’s constitution with regard to citizens’ equal protection and due process rights because it fails to make “rational distinctions” between those who qualify under the law and those who are not covered under it. [WSJ Law Blog]

These lawyers inadvertently angered the wrong people -- and barely escaped alive.