Our History

In 2018, a group of rights campaigners, practicing solicitors and advice workers, from North Wales and across the UK, happened to meet on a camping trip in Denbighshire. Sharing their experiences of campaigning for social justice, providing legal advice and accessing advice themselves, they recognised the need for more free, accessible and community based legal advice across the region.

In 2019, Law Centres Network provided seed funding to explore developing provision in North Wales. The group that met in Denbighshire were joined by others who live and work in the community we serve and have a deep understanding of the advice sector, policy and legislation in Wales. Throughout the pandemic they researched the gaps in free legal advice across the six local authority areas that make up our region, and met remotely to discuss ways to address them.

The volunteers formed North Wales Law Centre Steering Group as a registered Charity Incorporated Organisation in early 2022. They were awarded funding for a 1-year development phase and recruited the first paid member of staff to carry out this work.

In 2023 further funds were awarded to recruit a legal team and with the generous help of Law Centres Network and our other supporters we transitioned from a Steering Group to a service,  providing free legal advice to our first clients later that year.

As a young organisation we look forward to growing our team and our reputation, and working towards being a member of Law Centres Network. In 2024 we recognised the need for our name to better reflect the service we provide, and rebranded to North Wales Community Law.