University Applications

1.

Make sure the course you are applying for is accredited.
Essentially a lot of courses that involve public services are under regulation from accredited associations etc. For law this is primarily done by the Bar Standards Board. If you find a course that doesn't have it (which I will be very surprised if it isn't) then I would avoid purely because it means you will struggle to use the degree after you leave the university as it isn't accredited and you will struggle to use it for the bar.

2.

Consider Masters
To put yourself out there when you get into law work, doing a masters is really useful. A lot of courses offer degrees with integrated masters (so an extra year) which gives you an undergraduate and a masters by the end of it, this is useful for student finance, as you will get the same loans as normal degree than a masters loan if you do it separately.

3.

Look at available jobs/volunteering experience for law firms in your area.
Any law firm you apply for after you leave university will easily favour people that have already been in the field (whatever area of law that may be). When applying, just look on places like Indeed or university partners to see what things you can do to gain experience. Does your university have mandatory work experience/placements? Some, for example, may do things like citizens advice, we have something similar called the law clinic which is a free advice service for the public and it gives third year students experience in giving advice (under supervision of course).

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Note - you may need to do an interview depending where you go. So definitely seek advice as to what they may be looking for if you're confident in going there.

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If you're applying through UCAS, when writing your personal statement, talk about experience if you have done anything, it shows your committed. Talk about why you want to apply and link it with things you have done/seen (avoid making a sob-story type application). Only briefly talk about your qualifications related to the course, for example, if you have done law as an A-Level or whatever equalivent, you can talk about topics that interest you and why and how you have done well in the course, but remember they can see the qualifications in other parts of your application. Better to prioritise other parts that could in your application.

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Otherwise, go to university open days/decision days as they are best way to see the university and what it has to offer, especially for law as they will have rooms that specialised for them. For example, with us we have mock court rooms that are sometimes showcased on open days for law students. So in this case just plan ahead and make sure you leave enough time to see the universities you want to (they typically run open days from June to October/November time).