Open Data and Academic Partnership

Reproducible methodology, open-source tools, and public datasets for empirical bankruptcy research.

Dataset overview

The project analyzes bankruptcy filing and disposition data to identify potential Section 1328(f) discharge bar violations and measure practice quality metrics at the attorney and district level. The analysis covers the period from BAPCPA's effective date (October 17, 2005) through the most recent available data.

Primary data sources

Source	Coverage	Access
FJC Integrated Database (IDB)	All federal bankruptcy filings, aggregate statistics, disposition codes, district-level metrics	Free download from fjc.gov
PACER Case Locator	Individual case records, attorney attribution, filing/disposition dates, debtor names	Free searches; $0.10/page for documents (capped at $3). pcl.uscourts.gov
RECAP Archive	Crowd-sourced mirror of PACER documents via CourtListener	Free. courtlistener.com/recap

Derived metrics

The screening tools calculate the following metrics from the raw data:

• Dismissal rate -- percentage of Chapter 13 cases terminating by dismissal, by attorney and by district
• Prior filer rate -- percentage of debtors with prior bankruptcy filings in the same jurisdiction
• Discharge rate -- percentage of cases reaching successful discharge
• Dismissal velocity -- median days from filing to dismissal
• 1328(f) hit rate -- percentage of prior filer cases where the discharge-to-filing gap falls within the statutory bar window

Methodology

The methodology is designed for reproducibility. The core screening tool is a single Python script (screen_1328f.py) that uses only Python 3 standard library modules -- no external dependencies, no pip install.

Full methodology documentation is published at 1328f.org, including known limitations, edge cases, and areas where the methodology may under- or over-count.

How to access the data

Research opportunities

The dataset and methodology support research in several areas:

• Consumer bankruptcy outcomes: Relationship between attorney practices, repeat filing rates, and discharge outcomes
• Access to justice: Geographic variation in discharge rates and the role of attorney quality
• Regulatory effectiveness: Whether BAPCPA's discharge bar provisions are being enforced as enacted
• Empirical legal studies: Cross-district comparison of bankruptcy practice patterns and judicial enforcement
• Data science applications: Name matching algorithms, false positive mitigation in legal datasets, and statistical outlier detection

Tools and resources

Legal references

• 11 U.S.C. Section 1328 -- Discharge (Chapter 13)
• 11 U.S.C. Section 727 -- Discharge (Chapter 7)
• Fed. R. Bankr. P. 4004 -- Grant of discharge
• 11 U.S.C. Section 109 -- Who may be a debtor
• FJC Integrated Database -- Federal Judicial Center