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?

all u gotta do is grind on leetcode bro

It's a pretty bad idea to change careers in your mid 30s if you plan on being average at it.

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.