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What's up with the bimodal salary distribution in the legal industry? After looking at MBA grads starting salaries, they have a much more evened range with a median salary that is actually possible to attain (most law schools have median salaries 80-100k which no one actually makes). Back in the day, was it like this? Or is this a recent phenomenon?

It's a product of law firms' pricing being bimodal. There's a group of reputable large law firms with very high billing rates that companies turn to for important matters. Those firms pay starting salaries of 160k. Then there's a class of small firms with lower billing rates that typically handle smaller matters. Those firms tend to pay starting salaries less than half of what the big firms pay.

starry eyed wrote:What's up with the bimodal salary distribution in the legal industry? After looking at MBA grads starting salaries, they have a much more evened range with a median salary that is actually possible to attain (most law schools have median salaries 80-100k which no one actually makes). Back in the day, was it like this? Or is this a recent phenomenon?

Not sure how much it helps with the history of bimodal salaries, but I always thought this series of posts was interesting for past biglaw breakdowns:

http://abovethelaw.com/2014/06/flashbac ... 0s-part-1/

http://abovethelaw.com/2014/07/flashbac ... 0s-part-2/

http://abovethelaw.com/2014/09/flashbac ... 0s-part-3/

starry eyed wrote:What's up with the bimodal salary distribution in the legal industry? After looking at MBA grads starting salaries, they have a much more evened range with a median salary that is actually possible to attain (most law schools have median salaries 80-100k which no one actually makes). Back in the day, was it like this? Or is this a recent phenomenon?

I believe it is less bi-modal now that it was during the go-g0 years as the front (top) end has come down in relative terms, but I could be wrong. obviously it is a vastly different distribution than other entry graduate professions.

This article talks about the development: http://www.nalp.org/uploads/0812Research.pdf

Also, am I wrong, or does the NALP survey includes all jobs, not just firms?

It is more recent.

There are jobs in the middle but those firms are not interested in hiring entry level. If you look at salary ten years out, I doubt it will be bimodal.

It is exacerbated by the glut of terrible law grads who drive entry salaries down.

Bimodal curve shows up around 2000.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:This article talks about the development: http://www.nalp.org/uploads/0812Research.pdf

Also, am I wrong, or does the NALP survey includes all jobs, not just firms?

It includes all jobs but there's a lot of underreporting, which we assume is mostly from the bottom end of the distribution.