Clara Hilger

Practice Summary

Clara practises across all areas of property and planning law. She has a particular interest in real property, landlord and tenant (both commercial and residential), land registration, rating law and infrastructure planning.

During her pupillage, Clara has been supervised by Matthew Henderson, Jon Wills KC, Natasha Jackson, and Rupert Cohen, gaining a breadth of experience across all of Landmark’s specialist practice areas. Examples of work undertaken during pupillage include:

• Drafting advice on the rights and obligations in private and public law arising out of private ownership of a highway by a public body, including claims in restitution by and against public bodies
• Assisting in an appeal to the Supreme Court by conducting research into how authorities in Commonwealth jurisdictions identify sanctions for failure to comply with procedural requirements set out in statute
• Drafting advice on the contractual consequences of assignment of a continuation tenancy under the 1954 Act and the impact of the registration gap;
• Drafting legal submissions in response to an application to the First-tier Tribunal under s.168(4) of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 to determine a breach of covenant
• Drafting advice and pleadings in an action for specific performance of an obligation to transfer the freehold in a residential conveyancing scheme
• Assisting with a ten-week public inquiry for an order under the Transport and Works Act 1992 regarding a proposal for a guided busway outside Cambridge
• Drafting closing arguments for a week-long planning appeal following dismissal of a section 73 application to remove affordable housing provision in a housing redevelopment in Camden

Since accepting tenancy, Clara is now regularly instructed to appear in the County Court on property-related matters including small claims hearings and possession claims.

Prior to commencing pupillage, she spent a year as a Research Assistant at the Law Commission. Her work included analysis and policy development arising from the Commission's first consultation paper on the right to renew business tenancies under Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. She also taught all aspects of property law, land law, equity, and trusts to undergraduates and postgraduates at the University of Kent and Birkbeck College, University of London, while pursuing her doctorate at Kent Law School.

Clara is seeking to develop a broad property practice. She particularly welcomes instructions on matters which sit at the intersection of property law and public law.