UAFS names Kyle Parker to new technology advancement post
by October 6, 2009 10:37 am 174 views
A founder of Loislaw.com, member of a prominent area family and recent member of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith is now an employee of the university.
UAFS officials announced Tuesday (Oct, 6) that Kyle Parker will fill the new position of vice chancellor for planning and technology.
Parker, executive vice president for business development and strategic planning for Wolters Kluwer/Loislaw from 2001-2009, conceived and created in 1994 the first searchable legal information Internet site, loislaw.com, according to the UAFS statement. Parker’s areas of responsibility at UAFS will include all areas of technology advancement. He resigned his position on the UAFS Board of Visitors to accept the new job.
"Kyle has the drive and enthusiasm to move UA Fort Smith’s technology to an even higher level," UAFS Chancellor Dr. Paul Beran noted in the statement. "His industry experience will be invaluable to maximize our ability to leverage all of our technology talent and opportunities."
Parker directed Law Office Information Systems (LOIS) from conception in 1989 to a 500-employee company. He took LOIS public in 1999, where the stock traded on NASDAQ. During his tenure with LOIS, he was recognized by numerous state and federal courts for revolutionizing legal research and making it affordable.
In 2001 he directed the sale of LOIS in excess of $100 million to Wolters Kluwer, an Amsterdam-based world publishing company. At the time of the acquisition, LOIS had more than 23,000 law firms, every accredited law school in the U.S. and every state appellate court, including the U.S. Supreme Court, as customers.
Parker began as a private practice attorney in 1986 and, while in law school, wrote the first artificial intelligence software (CLARA) ever granted a registered copyright for the legal profession. He then created a word search engine and digitized the Arkansas legal case opinions, statutory and regulatory laws in 1989 to release the first legal CD-ROM in history (CaseBase).
Parker, a graduate of Northside High School, received his bachelor’s degree from Arkansas Tech University and his law degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H.