All Reports
How We Screened 4.9 Million Bankruptcy Cases
Technical walkthrough of the Section 1328(f) screening methodology: data sources, filing-date-to-filing-date calculation per In re Blendheim, de-staling procedures, and verification against docket records.
How to Read Your Attorney's PACER Record
A plain-English guide to using free public court records to evaluate a bankruptcy attorney's track record. What to look for, what the numbers mean, and how to compare outcomes against baselines.
Prior-Filing Discharge Rates Under Section 1328(f): National Analysis
Of 1,627,116 Chapter 13 debtors with prior bankruptcies, 391,951 received discharges. National analysis of discharge rates for prior filers by district, with enforcement gap identification.
BAPCPA at 20: What the Data Shows
Twenty years after the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, an empirical assessment of its major consumer provisions: the discharge bar, the means test, credit counseling, filing fees, and their measurable effects on 4.9 million cases.
Chapter 13 Dismissal Rates by District: National Analysis
Chapter 13 has a national completion rate of approximately 33-40%. Dismissal rates vary by more than 30 percentage points across federal districts. Attorney quality is the strongest predictor of outcomes.
What Is a Bankruptcy Mill? A Data-Driven Definition
No standard empirical definition of "bankruptcy mill" exists. This report proposes a data-driven framework using 8 measurable indicators, validated against published sanctions opinions from federal courts and state bar authorities.
Measuring Bankruptcy Attorney Performance Using Public Data
A methodology for measuring attorney performance using PACER data: control group construction, metric selection, statistical validation, and interpretation guidelines. Designed for replication in any federal district.
Section 109(g): The Filing Bar for Dismissed Debtors
Section 109(g) bars filing within 180 days of a prior dismissal. Enforcement is inconsistent. 85.3% of fail-then-refile chains in one analyzed portfolio occurred within 180 days. How the filing bar connects to Section 1328(f) as a two-layer protection.
Section 727(a)(8): The Chapter 7 Discharge Bar
The Chapter 7 discharge bar: 8 years for a prior Chapter 7, 6 years for a prior Chapter 13. How it relates to Section 1328(f), enforcement differences, and a complete table of all bar combinations across chapters.