Press Releases

Alexandria, Va. — Leading practitioners will be examining key issues across the consumer bankruptcy landscape at ABI’s 2023 Consumer Practice Extravaganza (CPEX), being held October 30-Nov. 10 via a state-of-the-art virtual platform. Spanning two weeks, this virtual conference offers quality sessions on key consumer bankruptcy topics, including student loans, AI/technology, subchapter V, chapter 13, ethics and more. One of the highlighted sessions of the program is a "Fireside Chat" between Tara Twomey, the Director of the Executive Office of the U.S. Trustees (Washington, D.C.) and Prof. Ingrid M. Hillinger of the Boston College School of Law (Newton Centre, Mass.). Available at a registration price of only $100, all sessions will conveniently remain available to attendees for 30 days after the conclusion of the conference.

Sessions at CPEX include:

• Hot Topics with Bill Rochelle
• Saving a Family Home, and the Ins and Outs of 3002.1
• Tax Issues in Bankruptcy
• Evidentiary Mock Trial
• Eligibility Issues for Consumer Debtors
• Real Property Potpourri
• Bankruptcy Ethics & Malpractice
• Judges' Session: Circuits 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 11
• Student Loans Update from the Department of Justice
• Fireside Chat with the Director of the Executive Office of the U.S. Trustees
• Chapter 13 to Sub V: Fear Not, Consumer Attorneys
• Industry Innovations and Solutions
• Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Belonging
• Hidden Assets/Valuation
• 13 or V? Putting Your Debtor in the Right Case
• Real Property Nuances in Chapter 13: Post-Petition Property Appreciation and Avoidance Actions
• SCOTUS Update
• Responding to Complaints in Federal Court: Strategies and Considerations
• Understanding Proofs of Claim/Claims Allowance: Constructing Proofs of Claim in Merger-Doctrine States
• Industry Innovations and Solutions
• Appeal Session: Appellate Arguments
• Post-Petition Issues in Consumer Cases: Life Goes On
• Judges' Session: Circuits 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
• The Sharing, Splitting, Unbundling, Factoring, Financing, Bifurcation and Disclosure of Debtors’ Attorneys’ Fees: Ethical Ramifications and What You Need to Know

Networking is also a key ingredient of CPEX, and attendees will have numerous opportunities to connect. The virtual portal will allow speakers and attendees to video or text chat spontaneously after sessions, or allow them to plan a date and time to meet.

Members of the press looking to attend ABI’s Consumer Practice Extravaganza should contact ABI Public Affairs Officer John Hartgen at 703-894-5935 or [email protected].

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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes nearly 10,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.

Alexandria, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) presented Bankruptcy Judge Tracey N. Wise (E.D. Ky.; Lexington) with the Judge William L. Norton, Jr. Judicial Excellence Award during an ABI presentation at the 97th National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges annual meeting in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 12. The Norton Award honors a retired or current bankruptcy judge who has been an outstanding educator, writer and scholar. The award is presented by ABI and Thomson Reuters in memory of the late William L. Norton, Jr. Past award-winners include Michael G. Williamson, Randolph J. Haines, Mary F. Walrath, Eugene R. Wedoff (a past ABI President), A. Jay Cristol, Barbara J. Houser (a past ABI President), Barry Russell, William H. Brown, Robert D. Martin and Harlin D. Hale.

An ABI member since 2007, Judge Wise was appointed to the bench on March 31, 2010. She served as Chief Judge from Oct. 1, 2011, until Sept. 30, 2019. Judge Wise also served on the Sixth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel from 2016-21, and as its Chief Judge from Oct. 1, 2019, to Oct. 31, 2021. She also served on its Education Planning Committee and Wellness Committee, and on the Planning Committee for the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference. Prior to her appointment, Judge Wise practiced in the areas of bankruptcy and debt restructuring for more than 25 years, including with Wise, Warnecke & Wise and Wise DelCotto PLLC.

Judge Wise has also served as Planning Committee chair of the Biennial Judge Joe Lee Bankruptcy Institute, a University of Kentucky College of Law Continuing Legal Education Program, since 2015; spearheaded the development of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges’ (NCBJ’s) Elder Care - Financial Literacy for Seniors program; has supported law clerks, judicial interns and externs, including through the Summer Judicial Internship Diversity Project; and, in 2020, received NCBJ’s Membership Services Committee’s Public Outreach Award.

Judge Wise is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and served on the advisory board of ABI’s Midwest Regional Bankruptcy Seminar from 2000-03. In addition, she is a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, Central Kentucky American Inn of Court, Kentucky Bar Association (for which she has served as Bankruptcy Section chair and Client Security Fund trustee) and the Fayette County Bar Association (for which she has served as Bankruptcy Section chair), and she is vice president of the board of directors of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure’s Lexington Affiliate.

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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes nearly 10,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit www.abi.org/events.

Year-to-Date Commercial Chapter 11 Filings Increased 61 Percent Compared To Same Period Last Year

Small Business Filings Increased By 41 Percent

Oct. 3, 2023 — The 4,553 total commercial chapter 11 bankruptcies filed during the first nine months of 2023 represented a 61 percent increase over the 2,837 filed during the same period in 2022, according to data provided by Epiq Bankruptcy, the leading provider of U.S. bankruptcy filing data. 

Small business filings, captured as subchapter V elections within chapter 11, totaled 1,419 in the first nine months of 2023, a 41 percent increase from the 1,009 elections during the same period in 2022. 

Overall commercial filings registered 18,680 for the first nine months of 2023, representing a 17 percent increase from the commercial filing total of 15,955 during the same period in 2022. Total bankruptcy filings were 332,138 during the first nine months of 2023, also a 17 percent increase from the 284,839 total filings during the same period a year ago. 

Total individual filings registered a 17 percent increase year-to-date to 313,458 filings up from the 268,884 filings during the first nine months of 2022. The 131,236 individual chapter 13 filings represented a 19 percent increase over the 110,186 filings during the same period in 2022. Individual chapter 7 filings increased 15 percent to 181,719 from the 158,178 filed in the first nine months of 2022.  

“While still below pre-pandemic levels, the numbers of filings demonstrate the difficult challenges and growing debt loads that financially distressed families and businesses are facing in this current economic environment,” said ABI Executive Director Amy Quackenboss. “Struggling individuals and companies have an established lifeline through bankruptcy to help steady themselves amid rising interest rates, inflation and increased borrowing costs.”

Compared to September 2022, overall commercial filings increased 16 percent to 2,342 from 2,022.  September commercial chapter 11 increased 29 percent to 573 from 455. Total subchapter V election within chapter 11 increased 25 percent to 171 from 137 in September 2022. 

All chapters increased in September 2023 compared to September 2022, with the 37,327 total bankruptcy filings representing an increase of 12 percent from the 33,210 filed in September 2022. Total individual filings were up 13 percent, to 35,138 from 31,188. The 19,793 individual chapter 7 filings in September 2023 increased 14 percent over the 17,320 filings in September 2022. Individual chapter 13 were up 11 percent in September 2023 to 15,285 from 13,819 the previous year. 

“While year-over-year bankruptcy filings increased across the board during the first nine months, comparing 2023 second and third quarters provides a different perspective where shorter term indicators were mixed,” said Gregg Morin, Vice President of Business Development and Revenue at Epiq Bankruptcy. “Total quarter three filings were up two percent over quarter two, all commercial chapters were down one percent, and all individual chapters were up two percent, compared to the prior quarter-over-quarter period where all chapters increased in filing volume.”   

ABI has partnered with Epiq Bankruptcy to provide the most current bankruptcy filing data for analysts, researchers, and members of the news media. Epiq Bankruptcy is the leading provider of data, technology and services for companies operating in the business of bankruptcy. Its Bankruptcy Analytics subscription service provides on-demand access to the industry’s most dynamic bankruptcy data, updated daily. Learn more at https://bankruptcy.epiqglobal.com/analytics.

About Epiq 

Epiq, a global technology-enabled services leader to the legal industry and corporations, takes on large-scale, increasingly complex tasks for corporate counsel, law firms, and business professionals with efficiency, clarity, and confidence. Clients rely on Epiq to streamline the administration of business operations, class action, and mass tort, court reporting, eDiscovery, regulatory, compliance, restructuring, and bankruptcy matters. Epiq subject-matter experts and technologies create efficiency through expertise and deliver confidence to high-performing clients around the world. Learn more at www.epiqglobal.com. 

About ABI 

ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes nearly 10,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abi.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abi.org/calendar-of-events.

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Press Contacts

Carrie Trent
Epiq, Director of Communications & Public Relations
[email protected]

John Hartgen 
ABI, Public Affairs Officer
[email protected]

Alexandria, Va. — An article by Alan T. Alexander in the Summer 2023 edition of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) Law Review (Vol. 31, No. 2) examines the issues surrounding bifurcated fee agreements in chapter 7 cases, which enable debtors who cannot afford to file for bankruptcy to split their attorney fees into pre-petition and post-petition portions. The article summarizes the state of current bankruptcy law as it applies to bifurcated fee agreements, reviews relevant case law, and analyzes the policy arguments for and against bifurcated fee agreements. Alexander also identifies the characteristics that make such agreements more likely to be approved or rejected by the courts.

The other articles in the Summer 2023 issue of the ABI Law Review are:

·      “Increasing Transfer Security for Securities: Application of the Section 546(e) Safe Harbor to Trust Indentures,” by James Britton, Beth Brownstein and Justin Kesselman of ArentFox Schiff LLP.

·      “Treatment of Intellectual Property Licenses in Bankruptcy,” by Prof. M P Ram Mohan and Aditya Gupta of the Centre for Financial Markets and Economy at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad in India.

·      “Is the End of FERC vs. the Bankruptcy Courts Upon Us?,” by Haig Najarian of Starwood Property Trust, Inc.

·      A student note, “Insider Leases in Bankruptcy: The Spanish Peaks Problem,” by Nicholas Smargiassi of St. John’s University School of Law.

ABI’s Law Review, published in conjunction with St. John’s University School of Law in Jamaica, N.Y., is among the most cited and respected scholarly publications in the bankruptcy community. Now in its 31st year, it has the largest circulation of any bankruptcy law review. Past issues of the Law Review have focused on a variety of timely insolvency issues, including chapter 11 reform, distressed sectors, single-asset cases, consumer bankruptcy, revised Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code and other topics.

Members of the press looking to obtain any of the articles from the Summer 2023 issue should contact John Hartgen at 703-894-5935 or [email protected].

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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes nearly 10,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abi.org/calendar-of-events.