Where are the huge numbers of $160,000 salaries coming from? It's like a delta function right at that one level. Is that a standard starting package for major firms?
Graduates of the top 14 schools per US News and World Report rankings feed into these jobs. Some at lower ranked tier 1 schools end up in big law, but they are typically at the top of the class. I would bet that not a single student of the law school mentioned in the article ended up in with a $160k starting salary.
This was the best salary survey I could find: http://www.lawcrossing.com/article/900045279/1st-Year-Salari...