Tbh I do agree with you on the non rg v rg thing. I've spoken to two of my friends recently during my gap year, one of them goes to Bristol and when I was trying to find out more before making my choice to reapply he mentioned they have had nearly 10 networking events already (however it could be overly exaggerated on his part) whilst my friend at Liverpool hasn't mentioned one. It shows the distinction between the level of Russel Groups, you could go to Liverpool and not get a training contract as they're not partnered as well as they could be with large law firms unlike other unis. I had a talk with the Dean of the Durham law school and he outlined everything he does to push students into the best position for a TC or Pupiliage (mainly TC) at the end of their studies and it was actually amazing.
Now onto the BCC girl, she had applied for them through UCAS extra and her offer was based on completely different predicted grades. Literally no extenuating circumstances, her and the ACC girl and I are all extremely close friends. Funny enough ACC girl was predicted 3 A's and BCC girl was predicted around ABB. They crossed over in a subject, ACC girl did Sociology, History and English Lit. BCC girl did Media, Sociology and English Lang and Lit combined. Very similar circumstances but I'd assume that it all came down to the fact that BCC girl firmed and ACC had it as her insurance. What will be interesting is seeing how her employability will play out over the next few years as she doesn't want to be a solicitor, she wants to be a barrister in New York but I dont know enough about the route to make a judgement on how her grades will affect it.
Also I have had such a long read of all you documents, honestly well appreciated that you've taken the time out to do all of that. I made a note of the unis for Law in clearing, Birmingham shocked a few people by being in clearing. I think what got people the most was that Cardiff wasn't there despite being there with Sheffield for very limited spaces multiples times prior. I can actually see Sheffield going into clearing again this year, same with Newcastle and the Law with Business at Exeter.