Payscale claims mid career lawyers make $139000 a year Forum

[dissonance1848]

In the new pay scale 2014-2015 college salary report, they claim that JDs make the 10th highest median income mid career, at $139000. Now, of course its bs as TLS knows. But how can this be dealt with, lest it be used by tttts to induce gullible suckers into the meat grinder of bone-crushing debt?

[jarofsoup]

I am not sure how to respond to this post....is this a troll/flame?

[rinkrat19]

Google "bimodal salary distribution"

If you still don't get it, take a statistics class to better understand why median is shitty way of measuring attorney salaries.

[Sheriff]

In the new pay scale 2014-2015 college salary report, they claim that JDs make the 10th highest median income mid career, at $139000. Now, of course its bs as TLS knows. But how can this be dealt with, lest it be used by tttts to induce gullible suckers into the meat grinder of bone-crushing debt?

That number may not be wrong. Salaries are bi-modal. Some lawyers will pull 1000 and others will pull 0. Doesn't mean you should expect to make 500, if you catch my drift.

[Person1111]

Why is this a "bs" mid-career figure? I always understood that the bimodal salary distribution reflected starting salaries, not mid-career salaries, so it doesn't surprise me at all to see that the median attorney's mid-career salary is about $140,000. That's not an outrageous amount of money for a 40-something in private practice or a federal government employee, especially in a larger city.

[Elston Gunn]

Why is this a "bs" mid-career figure? I always understood that the bimodal salary distribution reflected starting salaries, not mid-career salaries, so it doesn't surprise me at all to see that the median attorney's mid-career salary is about $140,000. That's not an outrageous amount of money for a 40-something in private practice or a federal government employee, especially in a larger city.

This, and current mid career lawyers entered the profession at a more favorable time.

[BVest]

Did I just completely miss what this has to do with clerkships?

[bk1]

Did I just completely miss what this has to do with clerkships?

Nothing by my count so it's been moved.

[NycReturn]

Google "bimodal salary distribution"

If you still don't get it, take a statistics class to better understand why median is shitty way of measuring attorney salaries.

Doesn't the bimodal distribution make 'median' a better measure for attorney salaries than other common statistics measurements? Mode is obviously useless. Mean (average) would be skewed by much higher outlier salaries, and thus would be artificially boosted. With median, half of people will finish above and half below. For example: assume there are 9 attorney's making $100,000 and one BL partner making $2,000,000. The median here would be $100,000 and would be an accurate reflection of the salary of the 'average attorney.' However, the mean would be $290,000, which is not a probable outcome and a pretty useless point of data. Is there another statistical measurement that you are suggesting?

There are plenty of reasons why mid career lawyer salaries are not a useful benchmark for prospective attorneys; the main reasons being that they graduated into a different economy with many less other attorneys. However, your advice is probably even less useful.

[lacrossebrother]

Is 139000 mid career too high or too low do you think?
Do you think that if you graduate law school on the lower of the curves --say, making 60k, that it's unreasonable to expect as an average result to be making low 100's 15 years down the line?

[sinfiery]

Unless biglaw associates make up half of all lawyers, I don't really understand the hate on median either

[bk1]

Is 139000 mid career too high or too low do you think?
Do you think that if you graduate law school on the lower of the curves --say, making 60k, that it's unreasonable to expect as an average result to be making low 100's 15 years down the line?

It's definitely too high for mid career law graduate imo. Mid career lawyer who is still practicing? It feels at least a bit high but a I could be wrong. That's higher than the top end of some gov lawyer payscales, iirc. Plenty of lawyers working in bumfuck places not making a ton of money. But maybe it's right, who the fuck knows.

[UnicornHunter]

Is it mid career JDs or mid career lawyers? I assume people who strike out right off the bat aren't included?