Really sorry to hear that mate! However, if I were to give some advice, it would be to not rely on what someone at the firm says unless they are a graduate recruiter at that firm or involved with recruitment in some way.
In my experience, the lawyers you speak to will universally want the best for you as they understand how competitive getting into law is. However, unless there is a specific role for lawyers in reading graduate applications, their advice may not be that helpful because they are usually quite removed from the process.
Most trainees are at least 1-2 years out of whack with recruitment cycles. And this presumes that they 1) studied law and 2) went straight into it after finishing university. Other trainees will have to do the GDL as well as the LPC and may have to wait a year or more before they start. Others may defer it for a year for personal reasons e.g. to travel. Associates are even further removed as they may have done those things and then had to train for two years, or even moved firms since then. Partners are on a different planet. One who used to mentor me said that when he applied in the 90s you could apply to 10 City firms and expect 9 interviews, just with a CV and covering letter - none of the pesky online tests or VIs or anything! So the relevance of his application experience was actually quite slim, and something I found frustrating during my mentorship.
So with this in mind, if anyone who isn't directly involved in recruitment says it looks great, just bear in mind that they might not be able to give you an honest assessment of how a recruiter or recruitment partner/associate, who will be reading most of those applications, may respond.