Robert L. Heston Jr.

Robert L. Heston Jr. is president and chief executive officer of LegalEASE, a Houston-based provider of employee legal benefits. In describing the company’s service, Heston gives a specific role to the advocate who helps a member find an attorney: answering questions, taking intake information and establishing what the member needs. LegalEASE supplies access to a nationwide attorney network.

His first job with the business was quite different. Legal Access Plans hired Heston in 1982 as the first attorney for its centralized consultation service. According to the company’s history, he found that his familiarity with Los Angeles did not equip him to advise callers elsewhere in California, where he lacked experience with local courts and judges. This mattered when a caller needed to weigh the likely outcome of a case against the expense of pursuing it. Heston recommended replacing the consultation center with a national attorney network and seeking larger clients.

He became chief executive in 1984. As the network expanded within California and then beyond the state, Heston began devising the requirements and credentialing process for screening law firms. The company’s 1987 history entry records its decision to move the corporate headquarters to Houston for a more central location. The LegalEASE brand followed in 2006, when Legal Access Companies began marketing it nationally to employers and brokers. In a 2025 company article, Heston expressed his hope that legal benefits would become as essential as core health benefits.