I recently received a J.D. with honors from a top-5 US law school; I'll be working in litigation at a firm in New York this fall, but I was wondering about my chances for the Oxford BCL or, alternatively, the Cambridge LLM.

I know the benchmark for comparing US grades to UK classifications is normally that ~top 10% of the class is equivalent to the required 1st. I was ~top 20% of my class, and the grading scale at my school doesn't really map onto the traditional US 4.0 scale, so I'm having a hard time figuring out where I stand. Does the fact this is a postgraduate degree (as opposed to the UK undergraduate law degree) from a very good and difficult law school help mitigate my less-than-ideal grades? Also, would the fact that I've published a legal paper in a well-respected academic journal help at all?

Thanks so much for any help 😀

Shameless bump... I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts

Ask admissions people at the schools, they should give you a good sense of your competitiveness. I would think that a JD from a top-5 US school would look good, no matter what. In terms of converting the grades, I know that grads from Yale who have had to deal with this - I think it takes some explaining but other schools are very much aware of this issue.

And yes, having a publication would help.