Parker Self

Allen Parker Self, Jr., known as Parker Self (born January 31, 1959),^[1] is the Division F judge of the 26th Judicial District Court of Bossier and Webster parishes in northwestern Louisiana.

Self received his undergraduate degree in 1981 from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. In 1984, he procured his law degree from Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge. From 1984 to 2003, Self was engaged in the practice of law. He is a former chair of the Young Lawyer Section of Louisiana Bar Association and currently serves on the Bill of Rights Section of that organization. Self is affiliated with the National Association for Court Management and the American Judges Association. He teaches at the North Louisiana Criminal Justice Academy in Plain Dealing in Bossier Parish.^[2]

On October 19, 1991, Self ran as a Democrat for the District 37 seat in the Louisiana State Senate, encompassing Caddo and Bossier parishes. The position opened when Sydney B. Nelson, also a Shreveport attorney, retired after three terms. In the nonpartisan blanket primary, another DemocratGregory J. Barro of Shreveport led the field with 11,224 votes (34 percent). Republican Ronald Bradford "Ron" Fayard (October 1, 1946 – March 7, 2011), a Mississippi native,^[3] real estate broker, and civic leader^[4] from Bossier City, trailed with 10,228 votes (31 percent). Self finished a strong third with 29 percent of the vote. A second Republican candidate, Shreveport attorney Leroy Havard Scott, Jr. (1922-2003), a former member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee, held the remaining 5.5 percent of the ballots cast.^[5]Barro subsequently defeated Fayard in the general election.

In a special election for his newly-created judgeship held on October 4, 2003, Self, still a Democrat, defeated the Republican candidate, "Ted" Johnson, 18,962 (54.2 percent) to 16,035 (45.8 percent).^[6]

Self has since switched his party registration to Republican.^[1]His court colleagues include two retiring judges, Ford E. Stinson, Jr., and John M. Robinson, as well as Mike Nerren, Michael Craig, and Jeff Cox. Self and fellow Republicans Nerren, Craig, and Cox are all unopposed in the nonpartisan blanket primary on November 4, 2014.^[7]Self will become the senior judge of the six-member court in January 2015.

Self and his wife, the former Paula Hodgkins (born November 1958), have twin sons, Lucas Hodgkins Self and William Parker "Will" Self (born October 1990).^[1] The Selfs reside in Bossier City.

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