A lawyer and mum of three from Anglesey is a dab hand at baking and turning out scrumptious cakes but she’s no pushover – she’s working towards a black belt in karate.
Welsh speaker Iona Lecras – her surname comes from her husband’s family connection to the Channel Islands – has just joined the private client team at Swayne Johnson’s office in Llandudno where she will specialise in wills, inheritance tax, powers of attorney and estate planning.
Iona, 41, from Pentre Berw, on Anglesey, is the latest recruit to St Asaph-based Swayne Johnson, one of the oldest law firms in Wales and one of the fastest-growing with other branches in Denbigh, Ruthin, Mold and Tattenhall, Chester.
Iona began her working life as a legal secretary with an Anglesey firm and decided to qualify as a lawyer.
She said:
“I enjoyed the work of the solicitors so I decided to apply to take my law degree with the Open University.
“I juggled it with working full-time, getting married, moving house, bringing up three children and having to study part-time in Chester.
“I did my training contract and then qualified and spent seven years with them before I decided it was time to move on because I wanted to concentrate on private client work.
“I applied to Swayne Johnson and was offered a job and I liked the flexibility they offer and the opportunity to specialise in private client work dealing with wills and probate.
“I will also cover Anglesey and I am happy to meet with new clients in their own homes at no extra charge and we also have meeting facilities at M-SParc, near Gaerwen, too.”
Iona is a member of the Association of Lifetime Lawyers, legal professionals specialising in supporting vulnerable and older people, and she added:
“I enjoy the relationship you build with your client and when I worked on Anglesey I had a lot of older clients and had a very good relationship with them.
“They would ask my advice and wanted to know that someone was happy to listen to their concerns. Many of them said it was like talking to a family member and it’s very important to have that rapport with clients.
“They feel you’re on their side and without that they won’t take your advice seriously. It’s that personal connection I enjoy and being able to concentrate on that is one of the reasons I joined Swayne Johnson.
“It’s also a firm with plenty of experience with experts who can help you and a very strong private client department.”
With a husband and three children, Lucy, 13, Hannah 10, and William John, six, Iona has been able to hone her skills as a baker too and she added: “I am very keen and do lots of birthday cakes for family and friends.
“My mum used to bake and I love it because you can just switch off. It’s just me and my cakes. I also do karate which my eldest daughter encouraged me to do and now I go to classes with both my daughters.
“Lucy has a black belt and I’m getting close to that and I love it for the freedom it gives me – when I’m doing karate I’m not a lawyer or mum, I’m just Iona.”
Lynette Viney-Passig, Swayne Johnson Managing Director and of Head of the Private Client department, said:
“We’re delighted to make another high calibre appointment in Iona as we continue to expand our offering to clients and, in particular, to clients living in Anglesey.
“We’re also looking forward to those cakes.
“We offer a comprehensive range of services across a wide area of law and we have the kind of high quality expertise that means clients don’t need to look to firms from outside the area for the legal skills they need.
“At Swayne Johnson we believe in building relationships with the people who come through our doors and providing them with the reassurance that they’re dealing with people who know and understand them and those are qualities that Iona brings to her role.”
