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&lt;p&gt;Law school is NOT undergrad. Your heart and head should be in it before attending. It&amp;rsquo;s intense, it&amp;rsquo;s ridiculously expensive, it&amp;rsquo;s like a job, even&amp;mdash;they&amp;rsquo;ll know if you don&amp;rsquo;t show up! So really research your schools and go only if you know you want to work in law.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the advice of Rebecca Gingold, senior investigative attorney in the Kings County DA&amp;rsquo;s office. She was part of a panel event held last night by Stratus Prep, a test prep and admissions consulting company, on the value of a law degree in the face of an uncertain legal job market and menacing debt burdens. Vault&amp;rsquo;s Mary Kate Sheridan moderated the event. The other panelists included the founder of Stratus, a senior partner at a law firm and a recent law school grad.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of the great values of going to law school, the panelists all agreed, is the change in thinking that takes place. Elnaz Zarrini, a recent grad of Fordham, said the different mindset that law school cultivated in her allowed for stronger analysis, better writing and more precise communication.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;The ability to think on your feet, think in a logical fashion are skills that are transferable no matter what you do,&amp;rdquo; said Peter Samuels, a senior partner at the law firm Proskauer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Shawn O&amp;rsquo;Connor, Stratus&amp;rsquo; founder, said law school helped him to really know what it&amp;rsquo;s like to understand another person&amp;rsquo;s perspective, something he presumed he could already do prior to attending Harvard Law, but couldn&amp;rsquo;t.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While empathy and a finely honed mind are no doubt of great value in any field a person chooses to persue, many prospective law students are immediately concerned with the prospect of borrowing $150,000 with no true sense of the employment picture. While he didn&amp;rsquo;t exactly discourage law school prospectives from borrowing, O&amp;rsquo;Connor did warn candidates about the stubbornness of student loan debt. &amp;ldquo;The only way you to avoid paying off student loan debt is death,&amp;rdquo; he said, referring to the fact that student loans don&amp;rsquo;t disappear even after filing for bankruptcy. Given that, he urged students to really consider all available pieces of information&amp;mdash;like loan forgiveness programs and loan types, for example&amp;mdash;before making any decisions. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And as far as the legal job market for non-top-tier law school grads? Gingold soberly reported that at the Kings County DA&amp;rsquo;s office hiring was still down. But she added that her office has hired students from local schools, because &amp;ldquo;they are the ones who are in the area to get the externship opportunities,&amp;rdquo; as well as pro bono attorneys, noting that &amp;ldquo;having your face there everyday is important.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Samuels emphasized the uncertainty of the legal job market and suggested that people avoid making a decision on law school based on the current economic turmoil. &amp;ldquo;If you can forecast where the legal job market is going&amp;hellip;then you should be a psychic,&amp;rdquo; said Samuels. &amp;ldquo;You&amp;rsquo;re as likely to bet wrong as bet right. Stick with the fundamentals: Do you want to go to law school?&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

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