Bill Henderson (Indiana) today blogs The End of an Era: the Bi-Modal Distribution for the Class of 2008, with this just-released chart from NALP on entry-level starting salaries for the class of 2008 [click on chart to enlarge]:
Bill notes:
Of the 22,305 law school graduates, a remarkable 23% (5,130 members of the class of 2008) reported an entry-level salary of $160,000. In contrast, 42% of entry level lawyers reported salaries in the $40,000 to $65,000 range. Once again, the central tendencies are a poor guide to the distribution as a whole: whereas the mean salary is a $92,000, the median salary was $72,000. Further, the two modes ($50,000 and $160,000) are separated by $110,000.
Bill traces the history of the bi-modal salary distribution pattern with salary data from the law school classes of 1991, 2000, 2006, and 2007.
