As you are in the top 5% I presume you have scored more than 65%, in combination that would greatly improve your chances.

Mooting, and summer school in your case will not help much. However, you may mention the summer school if you want in your sop if that helps in creating a narrative.

recommendation letters have to be focused and not general

I would say focus on your SOP, show it to couple of your friends, if you know someone from the alumni network who has done their PG in the institutions you are targeting connect with them and ask if they can give you feedback on the sop

as i have said before each sop is unique and you have to say why you want to do llm and it has to sound authentic as well as ambitious

if your score is above 60% (the UK equivalent of a 2.1) then you may apply, higher the score from 60% greater the chance. As your rank is within the 20%-30% your sop has to be strong, oxbridge put a lot of emphasis on relative rank during selection. In your reco focus on why you want LLM and how this is going to help you in your future career, if you want you can weave in a social angle using your work with the think tanks, say something on the lines that you will use your legal knowledge from oxbridge for social good, you have to tread the line between believable and ambitious. reco from MP may help if s/he does have a professional connect with you, just a general reco will not help, same for law office. Get one reco from your uni, preferably the VC/sr prof and try to get a glowing one. Basically telling that you are a grandmaster with gold in olympic sprint.

1. I'm in the top 5%
2. Graduated with 1 PQE but at a mid-sized firm and I have some good internships
3. International commercial arbitration primarily
4. Yes, semi- finalist at a national moot. 3 editorial positions ( don't know if that counts). Participated in some more moots. Did a summer school and I've done a couple of other courses.
5. Can get one from a hight court judge and one from a senior advocate.
Would love your comments. Thanks!

Graduated with 1 PQE presently. Not in top 20% of the batch. Probably in top 30% or so. In disputes, and have an inclination so would like to emphasize on that in case there's no specific programme on arbitration or something that is being offered. I have 1 publication with a reputed journal, 1 so-so and 2 with think tanks who do socio-economic work. Also have won one national moot. Can get one reco from a top law officer definitely, can try for an MP if not a cabinet min. But the second reco from any of these is touch and go, you know how these guys are.
That's the summary.
Thanks a lot :)

if you are from the top 5% in the batch it does not matter if you are from NLU or not

law firm internships do not have any relevance

mooting is only relevant if you have won something, or broken into the octa in something recognisable

publications will definitely help

focus on good sop and reco

give some gen information

1. relative class rank (within top 5%, 5-10%, 10-15%)
2. which year you are in?
3. do you have any inclinations towards any type of law?
4. do you have any co-extra curricular achievement so far (in general terms)
5. can you get reco from imp people (see above)

oxbridge maily look for academic merit, ideally they are looking for someone who is in the top 5% of their batch (this is usually shown by academic transcripts and in the reco letters, which should be strong), some co-extra curricular activities to complement (not supplement) (this can be articles, moots, sports, other special achievements etc.), and a decent sop (tell clearly why you want to do LLM and how this is going to help you in your future career progression and how you can contribute to the institution).

The way admission tutors work is that they would first sort the applications in three piles one with top 5%, one with above 60% marks and the other with top reco (by powerful people). So, they will reject the applications which are below 60% and does not have proper reco (from powerful people), then they will look at applications outside top 5% but above 60% marks but not great reco, this is where co-extra activities come into play. Finally they will look at top 5% and read the sop.

So, if you are in the top 5% then try to weave in a good sop, try to have at least some blog or something, there are lots of avenues (say that you worked on reaching masses and educating them about law etc. partner with a NGO or at least something similar on paper). If you are not in the top 5% but your marks is more than 60% then you would need a good co-extra. If you have nothing then get reco from someone who the admission people would recognise [cabinet, SC, Int org directors, someone who has donated 1mil, nobel winner etc.]

tell me something more about you and I can give more useful tips