A Note From the Team ✍️

We hope you and your team had a wonderful holiday season! The NextChapter team is feeling energized and ready for another productive year.

Since August 2022, case filings and credit report pulls have continued to increase with NextChapter users. This is the first continuous positive trend our team has tracked since before the pandemic.

According to a report from Law Street Media, 2022 was still a historically low year for bankruptcy filings in general. But with Chapter 13s on the rise and NextChapter’s own trends on the rise, we continue to prepare ourselves for bankruptcy filings to return to pre-pandemic levels. Read on below to learn how you can best utilize our software to prepare your firm as well.

Upcoming Webinars 🖥

In 2022, Chapter 13 filings saw the biggest year-over-year increase, and the percentage of 13 filings continue to rise. According to Epiq, Chapter 13 individual filings increased by 33% in 2022 compared to 2021. Is your firm ready to take on more 13 cases? To help make sure you and your staff are ready, we’re presenting a Chapter 13 Plan & Calculator webinar co-hosted by NextChapter’s Virtual Paralegal, Shakeerah McPherson. Shakeerah will demo the calculator, provide her best practices and tips, and end with a Q&A to answer any remaining questions. Join us live on January 30th at 2 pm ET.

All Upcoming Webinars - Click the Links Below to Register:

Chapter 13 Training with NextChapter Paralegal, Shakeerah McPherson- January 30th at 2pm ET

New User Series: Review & File- January 31st at 2pm ET

NextChapter Training: Client Profile- February 7th at 2pm ET

MyChapter Training- February 22nd at 2pm ET

Credit Report Integration- March 7th at 2pm ET

NextChapter Training: Additional Documents- March 22nd at 2pm ET

Product Updates 🚀

• Southern District of Ohio: Chapter 13 Plan Revised (12/14/22)

• District of Oregon: Chapter 13 Plan Revised (12/1/22)

• District of Arizona: Exemptions Updated from Proposition 209

• Sorting function added to all event date columns in the Full Case List

• Southern District of California local form added to Forms Library - Rights & Responsibilities of Ch. 7 Debtors and their Attorney

• Ability to "Select All" in All Notices Inbox

• Northern District of Georgia Chapter 13 Plan tag update

Chapter 13 Plan Package Highlight ✨

This month we are excited to highlight our Chapter 13 Plan Package. NextChapter's Chapter 13 Plan Package simplifies the Chapter 13 process. Tools and features such as our calculator, step plan calculator, plan editor, time tracker, and client receipt printouts transform Chapter 13 cases into a clean, organized process.

Instead of using messy spreadsheets and clunky software calculators, prepare Chapter 13 cases in your bankruptcy software from start to finish. Our real-time calculators specific to your district will save you time and energy. Make sure you don't miss our webinar on January 30th at 2:00 PM ET. Register here.

Customer Highlight 💁🏻‍♀️

John Skiba is an experienced bankruptcy attorney who works at Jackson White, P.C., which was founded in 1983. Their firm is comprised of two staff members and is based in Mesa, Arizona. Their firm files approximately 200 bankruptcy cases a year and specializes in Bankruptcy, Debt Defense, Criminal Defense, Family Law, Elder Law, Employment Law, and Immigration.

John was inspired to become a bankruptcy attorney in law school from his bankruptcy professor, Bruce Markell.  Professor Markell was one of the original authors of Collier on bankruptcy and an outstanding teacher. This ultimately began his journey with bankruptcy and inspired him to move into that area of law.  He first began using NextChapter in 2015 and has found that “it is very easy to use and allows new staff members to get up to speed very quickly”. Along with that, John really enjoys the Client Portal and Calendaring feature.

Outside of work you can catch John out boating.  He also has a YouTube channel called “Consumer Warrior” where he provides strategies and tips for solving serious debt problems.  We are proud to have such a unique and kind attorney using our software.

Meet the Team 👋

Jimmy Brooks has joined NextChapter as the newest customer success member! He is on the team to help you navigate our software and answer any questions you may have. Originally from Dayton, Ohio, he now currently resides in our home office city of Columbus, Ohio and we are very excited to have him on our team!

Jimmy is most excited about getting to know the rest of the team here. While at work, his best productivity hack is, “lots of coffee!"

Outside of work, Jimmy loves being creative, whether he’s building things, making artwork, or trying to find ways to be an entrepreneur. He also loves music, hanging with friends, and being a dad to his 2-year-old daughter!