Five minutes with Yvonne Treacher

Yvonne Treacher, paralegal in our commercial team, has worked with Cooper Grace Ward for 16 years. We asked her to tell us in her own words what life at Cooper Grace Ward is like, and a few of her past experiences and favourite things.

What made you decide to become a paralegal?

It was by chance really. I was working in hospitality and decided I wanted to change careers. I had thought about doing a TESOL course and was looking in the newspaper at course providers. I saw an advertisement for a paralegal course and decided to do that instead.

How long have you worked at Cooper Grace Ward for and what brought you to that position?

It has been 16 years this January. Three years part-time in the retail banking workgroup in stamping and registration. That was back in the day when we had to manually work out the stamp duty on transfers and mortgages including multi jurisdictional duty. After three years in the litigation and dispute resolution workgroup doing mortgagee default work, I moved to the commercial private client workgroup and have been here ever since.

If you could invite three people to dinner, dead or alive, who would they be and why?

1. My grandmother on my mother’s side. She died when I was young, but she ran her own small business and adopted my mum (from her sister) and never married. I would just like to ask her about her life.
2. The Queen – I am British.
3. Johnny Depp – but only if he came as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Where is the best place in Brisbane to go for a drink or dinner after work?

I don’t get the opportunity to go out to dinner in Brisbane much, but I have recently been for drinks at the Hotel W pool deck bar and the rooftop bar at the Emporium. These were both spectacular and I would highly recommend them.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Do the best you can. This is reflected in a quote I particularly like from Maya Angelou – ‘I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better’.

Do you have any hobbies/interest outside of work?

I like to read. I literally have hundreds of books at home. Despite it being the 21st century, I prefer to read a physical book rather than a digital one.

Complete this scenario: If I weren’t a paralegal, I would be…

…. a teacher. I would probably have done the TESOL course.

What do you think will be the single biggest issue facing the legal space in Australia in 2019?

Computer hacking and privacy.

What do you love about your job?

The variety. As a paralegal I get to do a wide range of things such as drafting estate planning documents, preparing superannuation deeds of variation and preparing probate application documents for estate administration.

Something you might not know about me is that…

I belong to a community choir and, apart from our own concerts, I have also performed twice in the Concert Hall at QPAC as part of the Brisbane Sings charity event.