Kiki Hausdorff

Kiki is completing pupillage in the Business and Property Group. She appears in intermediate track and fast track trials in commercial and property disputes and in insolvency matters in the High Court.

In her second six, Kiki has built on her pre-pupillage experience of appearing for the City of London Corporation in residential and commercial property possession claims. She regularly acts for claimants seeking possession under section 8 and section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, and in claims against trespassers.

Kiki frequently appears in interlocutory applications, including for interim injunctions, summary judgment, strike out, set aside and relief from sanction. She is also regularly instructed in applications to extend time to register charges and in winding-up and bankruptcy petitions.

Instructing solicitors praise Kiki as “well prepared, confident, and articulate”, note her “attention to detail” and say she “adapted quickly to changing arguments from the litigant in person and presented her points robustly throughout the hearing. It was a pleasure having her in court.”

Kiki’s busy paper practice has included drafting particulars for a claim over £100,000 in value. Her pleadings and written advice benefit from the strong foundation in drafting that she gained in her first six under the supervision of Samir Amin.

Kiki’s drafting in her second six has been praised by opposing counsel as “impressive”. Her legislative drafting, during her previous role as Parliamentary Counsel, is described in Hansard as “extremely well designed”, “very comprehensive” and “a tour de force”.

Kiki developed an interest in ADR from her pre-pupillage experience assisting counsel in an arbitration and her experience shadowing leading mediator Louise Corfield.

Pre-pupillage experience

Before pupillage, as a Law Reporter for the ICLR, Kiki drafted headnotes and summaries of argument for the Law Reports, the leading authority for case law in England and Wales. To assess whether judgments were reportable, she identified the ratio decidendi and any new points of law or modification of existing legal principles. She accurately and concisely distilled the judge’s reasoning, often in unfamiliar areas of law. Kiki managed a fast-paced workstream to strict deadlines and regularly drafted case summaries in short order for the ICLR’s Weekly Law Reports (Daily) product.

In her previous role as Parliamentary Counsel at the City of London Corporation, Kiki advised the Corporation on the application of forthcoming legislation and authored opinions in the names of the Corporation’s Law Officers, including the City Remembrancer and the Recorder of London, on a range of complex matters reflecting the breadth of the Corporation’s powers, privileges and duties. She was regularly instructed by the Corporation’s in-house solicitors in possession claims and prosecuted street trading offences and planning breaches. Her experience of drafting private legislation and amendments to Public Bills on behalf of the Corporation developed her ability to construe and apply legislative and contractual clauses.

Kiki read Jurisprudence at Somerville College, Oxford and was awarded Middle Temple’s Astbury Scholarship and BPP University’s Advocacy Award while undertaking the Bar Course in London. In 2021, she won the Middle Temple Young Barristers’ Association Advocacy Competition, in which barristers of up to seven years’ Call compete across several rounds of varied advocacy exercises.

Kiki enjoys writing and performing sketches and songs for Revels, Middle Temple’s annual Christmas cabaret show, and representing Middle Temple in the inter-Inn Shakespeare Cup (affectionately known as the “Shake-Off”).