When I entered law school in 1996, there were 170 accredited law schools. Since then, the ABA has accredited 30 more. (There are still more in the pipeline)
Moreover, the ABA is driving up the cost of legal education through accrediting mandates and educational experiments — such as the massive cost of legal clinical education — much of which adds little value to legal education.
The top salaries are not just a handful of NY firms, but scores of big firms in every major legal market. Having said that, firms like my former firm — now an AMLAW top 15 firm, are paying associates in some markets 20K less than they paid me ten years ago. Think about that, 20K less than I made 10 years ago.
Yet, the ABA is pushing to relax standards for entry into law schools, including eliminating the LSAT.
Lowering standards and dumping supply in any market will not improve quality or sustain pricing.
The good news is, you can now get a crappier lawyer for less money. :-)
We could probably increase the quality of lawyering, reduce the false expectations of big money, and have a better, more ethical brand of lawyer by shutting about 100 law schools.
Having said that — people are and should be free to spend their money on the education of their choice. We should not regulate stupidity.
Castrate the ABA and their dictatorial powers and allow free enterprise to weed out the chaff.