KATE GRAHAM
Director
Legal Qualifications
- Solicitor, Supreme Court of Queensland
- Solicitor, High Court of Australia
- Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist – Family Law
- Collaborative Law Training
Education
- Bachelor of Laws (Honours), Bond University
Professional Organisations
- Member, Queensland Law Society
- Member, Family Law Practitioners Association of Queensland
- Member, Law Council of Australia – Family Law Section
- Member, Gold Coast District Law Association
- Member, Queensland Collaborative Law
- Member, Gold Coast Collaborative Law Group
Director, Family Law Accredited Specialist | Collaboratively Trained Lawyer
From Grade 4, I decided on a career in law. Of course, at that time, I had no idea what that might entail, but neither did I deviate from it. I graduated from Miami High School in 1994 and began law at Bond University the following year.
I was lucky to gain valuable experience in the property area while I was studying for my degree – experience that I am still able to utilise to this day to help my clients. What I realised during that period was that the property arena was not where my long term career would lead me.
Like many law students, I was convinced that unless I was offered a job at a national firm, I would not be successful in the law. During my first few days at such a firm, I realised my mistake. What I really wanted to do was help “real” people with “real” problems. So, after a very short time, I was very fortunate to find my niche in a position exclusively in family law and, after having been admitted as a Solicitor in 2003, I have never looked back.
Whilst my colleague, Dan, the “B” in BGM Family Lawyers, has built a well deserved-reputation for complex financial matters and Orlena, the “M” in the Firm, is drawn to and excels at complex parenting matters, I like to believe that I have carved myself a “middle ground”, acting for clients whose matters usually involve a mix of both issues.
I am defined by my family and my work. Having school-aged children of my own has definitely impacted on the way I practise law. I can empathise with the emotions parents are feeling at a highly charged time in their lives. I see my role as assisting my clients to identify and analyse options, and making the best decisions for their family at every stage of the family law process.
While it is my preference for my clients to avoid the cost, expense and risk associated with Court proceedings by using Alternate Dispute Resolution procedures, if there is no other option, then I put on my “other hat” as litigator to support and advocate for my clients through the litigation process. In the litigation process, I still ensure that I do not let an opportunity to resolve the matter go past and I remain focused on the cost benefits of all the options available to my clients.
I received specialist accreditation from the Queensland Law Society in 2009. I am a member of the Gold Coast District Law Association and the Family Law Practitioners Association. In 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 I was recognised as a ‘leading’ Gold Coast family and divorce lawyer in the Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession, and a ‘leading’ lawyer in parenting disputes for Regional Queensland.
I am qualified as a Collaborative Lawyer and am always happy to discuss this process with any existing or prospective clients to decide if collaborative law is a process which might be suitable for their circumstances. I hold membership of Queensland Collaborative Law, and participate in the Gold Coast Collaborative Law Group.
Video Transcript
My name is Kate Graham, and I’m a director of BGM Family Lawyers. I’ve worked in family law for 19 years. The attributes that define me as a family lawyer I feel are being compassionate and empathetic to my client’s needs, and the ability to manage their expectations around those things. It’s important to have those attributes, doing the job that we do because people are in crisis, they’re experiencing what, for many of them, is the worst time in their lives. They don’t know up from down, they need somebody to help them work out what’s important and put them on the path to dealing with those things.
What I love most about what I do is the same ideal that drove me to family law in the first place, which is helping people. My very short career in the corporate world made me realise that I didn’t want to sit in an office and be shuffling papers and looking at contracts all day every day. I wanted to be dealing with people. So that’s exactly what I get to do every single day.
