I'm in my mid thirties and have often considering moving from software to law. My software path tops out at around $200-250k so the upside on law seems better if you look at the big opportunity cost and lower wage periods with some rose colored glasses ;)
Unlike the normal distribution in your link, earnings in the legal profession follow a bimodal distribution. The mean/median earnings of everyone from public defenders and law firm associates isn't typically representative of actual incomes.
As does software development. What are the chances that he ends up in the FAANG equivalent in law?
No one “plans” on being average just like I’m sure a lot of software engineers “plan” on graduating from college working for BigTech and adjacent and making $160K+ straight out of college and not working for “Billy Bob’s Fish Tackle and Wordpress shop” making $50K.
I’ve got bad news for you if you think the average lawyer makes more.
https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/lawyer/salary