<p>Maybe lawyers really do fit the stereotype, and cannot do math. There’s a pretty simple explanation for the OP’s stats.</p>
<p>We are talking about median, not mean. It’s not hard to believe that most T14 schools can (and do) send most of their graduates to biglaw, which pays $160,000 in a large majority of cases. If most of these schools are sending most their grads to biglaw, then it’s not hard to imagine that at least 50% of graduates are in biglaw making 160,000 a year. If the “middle person” makes $160,000 then the median is 160,000.</p>
<p>The mean is probably far lower, as salaries probably drop dramatically from that 160,000 to roughly 50,000 most of the non-biglaw people.</p>