I am a US citizen and am a first year law student(BBA-LLB) in India.
I wish to do my LLM from top law schools like harvard or yale.
what should be my first step towards it?

Hi,

Although I know very little about the Indian education system, the criteria for getting into a top us llm are pretty much the same for every country. These are ranked in a rough order of importance:

1. Grades: your grades are the most important factor. To have a good shot at schools like Harvard and Yale you need to graduate within the top 1-5% of your class.
2. Relevant work experience: the more relevant and intersting work experience you have the better. Try to get judicial internships or clerkships, summer positions at top international law firms or highly coveted government experience. Having a few years experience after your bachelors degree can also help.
3. Publications: try and publish at least one paper if not more in a well-know publication (hopefully an internationally recognized one).
4. Try to work on your faculty's law review, if it is peer-reviewed try out for out for the position of editor in your last year.
5. Mooting: gain as much moot experience as possible. The international law moots are great because you can compete and rank against top schools around the world.
6. Research: serve as a research assistant for at least one prof. You'll gain valuable research skills and hopefully be able to build a relationship with the prof. They will hopefully write you a good reference letter.
Volunteer: volunteering in a legal aid clinic is a great way to hone your legal skills and give back to the community.
7. Study abroad: take a summer law class at a well recognized institution. This will show a certain well-roundedness and give you the benefit of being exposed to different cultural environments.
8. Improve your English: work on it as much as possible, you should be able to think and most of all write at a very high academic level.

These are probably the 8 factors that are most determinitive. You don't need all 8 though, just good marks, great English and excel in one or two of the other categories. Good luck!