Richard Halliburton prepares to step down as head of Legal Aid

Richard Halliburton’s 38 years with Legal Aid of Western Missouri ends next week. Well, sort of.

While Halliburton is retiring from the executive director position at the end of the month, he hopes to continue helping the organization with its fundraising efforts — a task Halliburton has spearheaded for decades.

“Everyone ought to be able to participate in the legal system,” Halliburton said. “No one should have the courtroom doors shut in their face for lack of funds. The system works better and serves all of our citizens better if everyone has access to an attorney.”

Legal Aid, which represents qualified indigent individuals with counsel in civil litigation, is funded partly through the federally-backed Legal Services Corp.

But the funds from Legal Services Corp. have dropped considerably since it was created in 1974, Halliburton said. The federally funded potion of Legal Aid’s budget has dropped from 85 percent to about 25 during Halliburton’s tenure. Legal Aid’s annual budget this year is around $7.2 million.

But the organization continues to serve the community at the same click it did when Halliburton joined Legal Aid in 1970, due to alternative funding sources.

“With a number of other sources, we’ve kept from going backwards,” Halliburton said.

Facing triage

Even in the face of a constant uphill financial battle, Halliburton said his time at Legal Aid has been rewarding. He began his career at Legal Aid fresh from law school, and was thrown into a “triage” situation.

“I was very interested in seeing that the legal system adequately served everybody. That was my political philosophy and I believed in it,” he said. “This sounded like a good opportunity to put that philosophy into action.”

The sheer number of people looking for counsel was overwhelming for Halliburton, with the old office at 31st Street and Agnes Avenue routinely packed.

“We were just experimenting with how to control the case load and how to set priorities,” he said, “so at the beginning we would just open the doors and people would come from early in the morning until as long as we wanted to stay — and they’d sit there all day waiting to see a lawyer.”

With his caseload topping 100, setting priorities was crucial, Halliburton said.

“Things got out of control very quickly for all of us,” Halliburton said with a laugh. “We later had to establish a system, a triage system, that we basically stick with today.”

Bar steps in

While that system has remained constant (with some tweaks through the years, Halliburton said), some of the things that have changed are due in part to Halliburton’s active involvement with the Missouri Bar.

“When I first began, Legal Aid attorneys were kind of outsiders in the everyday practice of law and kind of frowned upon by some of the organized bar,” said Halliburton, who has served on the Bar’s Board of Governors for about 12 years. “I think all of that has changed significantly, especially over the last 20 years.”

The Bar is now a significant partner in fund-raising, Halliburton said, and he hopes to continue as a liaison between the Bar and Legal Aid in the future.

After being Legal Aid’s executive director for the last 20 years, Halliburton, 68, said the time is right for retirement.

“I’ve thought about this for a while now,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 38 years, I’ve been director for 20, and I just think it’s probably time for the organization to have a new leader, and time for me to rest, quite frankly.”

While there have been opportunities to leave Legal Aid for the financially greener pastures of private practice, Halliburton said knowing he helped keep the legal playing field level has been worth the obstacles through the years.

“I have felt generally rewarded doing this work and I have never regretted making the choice to do this as opposed to something else,” he said. “I consider it a privilege to have been in this position.”

Legal Aid’s deputy director Gregg Lombardi will serve as interim director until the position is filled in the coming months. Lombardi said he has applied for the permanent position.

A dance and reception will be held in Halliburton’s honor on Thursday at the Hilton President hotel in Kansas City.