Please give us the name of one reputable "UK-based law review" which operates on the stupid model of student-run law journals that we have copied from the Americans? Let's not misguide here, unless the OP is the equivalent of the next Tarunabh Khaitan or Conor Gearty, they ain't getting published in typical (above average to well reputed) UK law journals. The only caveat to what I have said is if OP has a substantial piece of work under the belt already, by the time application time is coming around.

OP, does your law school have the option of doing an undergraduate dissertation? A 10000 to 15000-word piece of writing for which you receive supervision. If so, are you planning to take it up? That of course depends on factors like your current university's capacity to supervise the project of your interest. If you do a really good UG dissertation, maybe you can start working on getting that published. But in a peer review system like that of most typical (read: reputable) UK law journals, that will take a lot of time. I know OP has asked about Cambridge, but if you are thinking about Oxford BCL, doing a UG dissertation may be useful, as you can send an extract of it as writing sample as part of your application.

If you really want to achieve some realistic writing goals for your LLM application, concentrate on blogs like UK Human Rights Blog, UK Constitutional Law Association (UKCLA) etc. If you are a public law person, maybe read Mark Elliott's blog publiclawforeveryone.com (Elliott BTW teaches at Cambridge), write something substantive if you haven't already and check with him if maybe you can contribute it as a guest piece to publiclawforeveryone.com. Of course, it would in your situation likely have to be a comparative piece, dealing with an aspect of constitutional law or theory of interest to both Indian and British lawyers. Which is why you might just do better to work with Indian law blogs itself.

Re: The other aspects of your advice, no dispute at all. OP, follow that completely.

Judicial clerkship in Supreme Court for 2 years and recommendation letter from a sitting Supreme Court judge will put a lot of positive weight on your LLM and Scholarship application.

However, most important will be your statement of purpose (your why!).

As you are in 4th year of law school, try publishing at least two articles in some reputed law reviews (at least 1 in UK based law review) in the next two years.

75% marks is very decent and so don’t worry about that aspect.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently a 4th-year law student at a mid-tier NLU. I’m planning to pursue an LL.M. in the UK in the future, mainly targeting Cambridge.

At present, my academic score is around 75–78%. I’m not among the top 10 rankers in my batch in terms of CGPA, which is something I’m a bit concerned about. With academics, I’ve been actively focusing on building my profile through teaching assistantships, publications, and student editorships in journals.

After the graduation, I am planning to go for a judicial clerkship at the Supreme Court for 1–2 years before applying for the LL.M., as I don’t intend to pursue it immediately after law school.

I wanted guidance on:

1. 1. How much does a 75–78% score (without being a top ranker) impact chances at top universities like Cambridge?
2. 2. How competitive are fully funded scholarships like Chevening in such a scenario? And is "75%" gonna reduce my chances of it.
3. 3. What additional steps I can take over the next 1–2 years to strengthen my profile for both admission and scholarships?

Would really appreciate insights from people who have gone through a similar path or have experience with UK LL.M. admissions and scholarships.