Our Story
A simple idea with a powerful purpose
Legacare was founded after recognising that many people facing serious illness struggled to access timely legal advice when they needed it most. What began as a local initiative has grown into a trust charity supporting thousands of patients and families
How it all began
Legacare was originally started by our current CEO, Meg Kirby who sadly witnessed people receiving aggressive treatment in hospital which made her think that if people were so ill they may have unresolved legal issues that were worrying them and that could possibly be impacting upon their treatment and health.
Meg's vision was to enable people who were affected by the diagnosis of a life-threatening/life-limiting illness to have access to free legal help irrespective of their social or financial background.
Meg started Legacare back in 2011 and from there whilst it only has three Solicitors, as at 2021 Legacare has assisted over 8,000 people in the North East.
Our Journey
From a single vision born at a hospital bedside, LegaCare has grown into a lifeline for thousands of families across the North East ensuring no one faces illness and injustice at the same time.
The Next Chapter
Our Mission
We plan to expand across the UK as we have already put in place the infrastructure to start work with other partnerships outside the North East.
For the long-term we plan to have Solicitors in every major city who can provide face to face support for people when they are most vulnerable.
Our mission is to increase the number of people we can assist through recruiting more solicitors.
We also want to continue to raise awareness of the need of our services through training and education to NHS and social care professionals who refer their patients to us. This will then give them the confidence to be able to ask patients if they need legal help, in the knowledge it is available to them.
2011
Legacare is founded.
Meg Kirby founded LegaCare after witnessing first-hand how terminally ill patients in the North East were burdened by unresolved legal worries during treatment. Megs Vision: free, specialist legal help for anyone facing a life-threatening diagnosis, regardless of background
2013
First Partnership
LegaCare partnered with Bright Northumbria Trust Charity.
2014
New partnership
LegaCare partnered with Newcastle University providing pro-bono placements for Law students.
2016
Legacare iturns 5.
We celebrated 5 years of Legacare with an anniversary ball.
2017
Legacare is recognised for its excellence.
LegaCare wins the Law Society Excellence Award for Pro-bono.
2020
Thousands helped
A landmark moment — LegaCare marked its 9th anniversary having supported over 5,000 people across the region.
2025
Expanding support
Our services expand across the North East of England reaching 8000 + clients and families in need.
Real Impact
The people we help are those who would normally not bother asking for legal help because they come from the poorest parts of the North East and already have to face many struggles and see the accessibility to legal help as something way beyond their reach.
It’s our goal to help them by undertaking any legal work that is required so that they can concentrate on their treatment and getting better, but where their prognosis is poor then our aim is to alleviate their stress so they can have improved quality of life in their last months, weeks or days of life.
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