About me
I am Wilson Yap and I am a Consultant here. I have been with the firm since I was admitted to practice in 1997. I had my first taste of general litigation work after I joined the firm, and that whet my appetite for more with our Recoveries Litigation department.
My length of time here reflects highly on the firm, the people and the values we hold – there is work, there is play and there is a balance. There is also a sense of looking after one another here – there is always someone I can turn to when I get stuck on a legal issue, or I may sometimes find myself interpreting a document written in Malay to colleagues in the commercial department. I think this really enable us to provide the best representation and advice for our clients.
I mainly act for the Victorian WorkCover Authority, Transport Accident Commission and self insurers in pursuing negligent third parties for the recovery of compensation payments that have been made to injured workers or claimants. Recoveries litigation is mainly plaintiff personal injuries practice, and I would not be doing this for nearly 20 years if I didn’t love it. It is unique and there are not many lawyers who specialise in this area. There are challenging witnesses to manage. We are constantly dealing with legal issues involving a multitude of injuries from a multitude of causes, including injuries caused interstate and even overseas. The mixture of legal and human issues makes the work interesting and keeps me wanting to learn more about ways to tackle them.
I don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. I always strive to achieve the best outcomes for my clients by having a deep understanding of their position, a detailed analysis of the evidence and legal issues, and putting myself in my opponent’s shoes, without losing sight of the bigger picture. I am realistic and don’t believe in giving advice that the client only wants to hear. That doesn’t mean I’m soft and give up easily, but rather makes me fight harder for my clients especially in those difficult matters.