Top Law Schools

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The response rate is just for salaries that are reported to the school. Everyone that gets BigLaw or a federal clerkship is accounted for, just as everyone that is still seeking a job is accounted for. Check out the ABA Employment Outcomes for each school to get an accurate analysis. The ABA forms are what LST uses when calculating percentages.

the response rate is reflected in the "unknown score"
you're looking at a salary response score, which is different

Salary response rate is more problematic for regional schools with a lot of people at 2-99 person firms or PI than it is for schools placing predominantly into traditional "biglaw," where we know market pay. I agree the response rate gives pause to data suggesting, e.g. that a state flagship has half its graduates making over $100,000, with only a 45% response rate. But as others have said the ABA questionnaires provide sufficient information for the top programs.

I think the responses to the OP are so far solid. I want to emphasize one element of the OP, however:

To me, it's analogous to a political poll with a wide margin of error. The results are draped in uncertainty.

This is exactly the point. We want to make it clear what is known and what is not known. Previously, people had absolutely no clue about how applicable stated salaries are. Getting to "I don't know" is a major step.