Research Library
Curated collection of empirical research on consumer bankruptcy outcomes, attorney performance, discharge eligibility, and systemic reform. This project builds on the work of these researchers. All citations link to original sources.
Consumer Bankruptcy Outcomes
Foohey, P., Lawless, R.M., Porter, K., & Thorne, D. (2018). Life in the Sweatbox. Notre Dame Law Review, 94(1).
Key finding: People live longer in financial distress before filing bankruptcy than in previous decades. "Long strugglers" who wait 2+ years suffer persistent collection, healthcare gaps, and property loss.
Foundational research on pre-filing debtor harm. The screening tools on this site document what happens when the filing itself extends the sweatbox rather than ending it.
Hynes, R.M. (2025). Chapter 13 Outcomes. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies.
Key finding: Documented Chapter 13's high failure rate nationally and questioned the chapter's effectiveness as a debt relief mechanism.
Our per-attorney outcome data extends this finding: not only do most Ch.13 cases fail, but failure rates vary dramatically by attorney, with some firms producing dismissal rates 2-3x the district average.
Empirical
Author Profile
Jacoby, M.B. (2024). Unjust Debts. University of Chicago Press.
Key finding: The bankruptcy system fails individual debtors through structural design, not individual attorney error. Named Financial Times best summer economics book, 2024.
Our data provides empirical support for the book's central thesis: systemic failure produces predictable, measurable harm at scale.
Book
Author Profile
Indarte, S. (2025). Racial Disparities and Bias in Consumer Bankruptcy. NBER Working Paper.
Key finding: 80% Chapter 13 dismissal rate for Black filers using 15M+ observations. Identified racial disparities in bankruptcy outcomes at national scale.
Our data shows attorney affiliation produces an 88.8% dismissal rate independent of race, suggesting attorney quality is a complementary causal mechanism to the racial disparities documented in this paper.
NBER
Author Profile
Gelbach, J.B. (2016-present). PACER Access and Federal Court Data Research. UC Berkeley School of Law.
Key contribution: A decade of advocacy and scholarship on the barriers that PACER fees create for researchers, journalists, and the public. Teaches a course on PACER data access. PhD economics + JD.
The PACER fee structure directly limits the ability to verify discharge eligibility at scale. Our finding that 391,951 prior filers received discharge without verification is only discoverable with access to individual docket records behind the PACER paywall. Gelbach's work on removing that barrier is foundational to scaling this project nationally.
Attorney Performance & Access to Justice
Littwin, A. (2011). The Do-It-Yourself Mirage: Complexity in the Bankruptcy System.
Key finding: BAPCPA made bankruptcy so complex that even sophisticated pro se filers cannot navigate it successfully. Dismissal rates are dramatically higher without counsel.
This research proved that debtors need attorneys. Our data demonstrates that having the wrong attorney can produce the same outcomes as having none.
Access to Justice
SSRN
Alexander, C. (2020). Does Lawyering Matter? Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business.
Key finding: Attorney representation affects case outcomes, but the quality and type of representation varies significantly. Co-PI of SCALES (NSF-funded federal court data project).
SCALES infrastructure and methodology are directly compatible with the detection pipeline used in this project.
SCALES Project
Author Profile
Morrison, E.R. (2020). Race and Bankruptcy. Journal of Law and Economics.
Key finding: Racial disparities in bankruptcy outcomes persist after controlling for financial variables. NBER affiliated.
Attorney-level data with per-attorney statistical significance directly supports the causal mechanisms studied in this research.
NBER
Author Profile
Philadelphia Federal Reserve (2024). Bankruptcy Lawyers and Credit Recovery. Working Paper.
Key finding: Attorney representation improves post-bankruptcy credit recovery outcomes. Advertising-driven filers achieve better outcomes because they are more likely to obtain representation.
Our data demonstrates the inverse case: what happens when attorney representation systematically worsens outcomes rather than improving them.
Federal Reserve
Discharge Eligibility & Rule 4004
Connelly, R.B. & Kahn, B. (2025). Rules Suggestion 25-BK-N: Proposed Amendment to Fed. R. Bankr. P. 4004. Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules.
Key finding: Rule 4004 as written forces courts to enter discharges for categorically ineligible debtors if no timely objection is filed, in conflict with 28 U.S.C. Section 2075.
This project's empirical data was submitted to the Advisory Committee as a related suggestion to 25-BK-N at the request of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
Rules Committee
uscourts.gov
Klein, C.M. (2018). In re Filice, 580 B.R. 259 (Bankr. E.D. Cal.).
Key finding: Rule 4004(a) is invalid to the extent it requires entry of a discharge contravening Section 727(a)(8). Court vacated a mistaken second discharge under Rule 60(a). The court has an independent duty to verify discharge eligibility.
The judicial opinion that prompted Rules Suggestion 25-BK-N. Demonstrates the systemic gap our screening tools are designed to detect.
Judicial Opinion
Analysis
Repeat Filing & System Design
Lefgren, L., McIntyre, F., & Miller, M. (2010). Chapter 7 or 13: Are Client or Lawyer Interests Paramount? B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy.
Key finding: Attorney financial incentives influence chapter choice. Attorneys with higher Chapter 13 fee structures steer clients toward Chapter 13 even when Chapter 7 is more appropriate.
The cross-chapter differential metric in our methodology detects this pattern: elevated Ch.13 filing ratios relative to district averages can indicate chapter steering.
Chapter Steering
Norberg, S.F. & Compo, A.J. (2007). Report on an Empirical Study of District Variations in BAPCPA.
Key finding: Significant district-level variation in how BAPCPA provisions are implemented and enforced, creating geographic disparities in debtor outcomes.
Our national screening confirms this finding: Section 1328(f) enforcement varies dramatically by district, with some districts showing near-zero verification rates.
BAPCPA
Statutory References
Full statutory text available from the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School: