Bankruptcy Trends and Product Highlights 📈 | March ‘22 Newsletter

Learn all about NextChapter's latest enhancements and features. [View this email in your browser]( NextChapter Updates 🎉✨ We are proud to announce that we have relaunched our NextChapter Mobile app for iOS and Android. After all of the hard work that our team has put into rebuilding our app, we now make it easier than ever for our users to work on cases from anywhere. For more information on what you can do with the mobile app, click [here](. Filing Trends: According to the figures provided by [Epiq]( new bankruptcy filings across all chapters increased by 3.2% in February 2022 compared to January 2022. This increase is minor and still well below the filing figures seen pre-pandemic but for those monitoring the trends, it’s still worth noting as the month is 3 days shorter and increases month-over-month have been rare in the last 2 years. Increased Federal Figures Effective April 1, 2022: The [Judicial Conference]( has published the next increased amounts in the Bankruptcy Code which are adjusted every three years on April 1 to account for inflation. At nearly 11%, the increase is larger than in years past making filing for some debtors more advantageous to protect more of their assets and to determine if they qualify under chapter 13 or the new subchapter V of chapter 11. The federal forms are being revised effective April 1 to reflect these changes and NextChapter will have these forms ready for you on that day! Forms that are being revised: Official Form 106C, Official Form 107, Official Form 122A-1, Official Form 122C-2, Official Form 201, Official Form 207, Official Form 410. NextGen Updates: In the last month, 3 more districts made the move to upgrade their Case Management/Electronic Case Filing System to the Next Generation of CM/ECF (“NextGen”). - Tennessee Middle - Tennessee Northern - Puerto Rico As more districts make the move to NextGen, we are nearing the end of districts left to upgrade. Over the next couple of months, 4 more districts are scheduled to also make the move: - Kentucky Western, March 14, 2022 - Louisiana Western, March 21, 2022 - Virginia Eastern, March 21, 2022 - Florida Southern, April 4, 2022 Coming Soon ⏱ NextChapter is excited to partner with attorney Carolyn Elefant, founder of MyShingle and author of [Solo by Choice: How to Be the Lawyer You Always Wanted to Be]( to provide access to her suite of various sample fee agreements created for modern law firms. These agreements include provisions that reflect the conventions of a modern law practice such as collecting fees by credit card, offering subscription services or flat fees, operating an online-only practice, outsourcing work, or using the cloud. Users in NextChapter will have the ability to subscribe to this suite of forms for an annual fee and each subscription includes access and alerts to any updates or additions. This is a great complementary feature to [NextChapter’s Doc Creator]( to help power your firm’s form automation. Keep an eye on your inbox for an announcement of when these forms go live for purchase! Customer Highlight 💁🏻‍♀️ We are happy to announce Susan Mann as NextChapter’s Customer of the Month. Susan is an experienced paralegal working with the new, Knipp Law. The firm was founded in 2022 in Kansas City, MO. However, Susan has been a longtime NextChapter user, as she began using in 2018. She began her career as a receptionist at a bankruptcy firm, but quickly found she was well suited for the paralegal profession. She enjoys helping people and realized working in bankruptcy allowed her to “help people better their lives in a concrete way.” NextChapter’s client portal has made Susan’s job much easier over the past couple years. The ability to virtually complete intake information was crucial during a time when very few people were visiting the office in person. Susan also appreciates the customization features in NextChapter, allowing her firm to set up the account specifically to their needs. Lastly, she appreciates the customer support NextChapter offers, stating, “Customer service is always a priority with NextChapter.” When Susan isn’t working as a paralegal, she enjoys crafting in the form of crochet and embroidery. She also enjoys video games and reading in her spare time. Susan is such a valued NextChapter user. She consistently demonstrates knowledge and appreciation for the app and our team. She also keeps us informed on updates with the courts and adds valuable suggestions on improving the app. Recently, she has been integral in the beta testing of a new app feature. We are so pleased to have her on board! NextChapter’s Customer Success Team has a bank of past webinars covering almost every aspect of the NextChapter application. However, we like to provide fresh webinar content that includes product updates and frequently asked questions. We’ve even recruited [actual users to demonstrate]( the application from a different point of view; providing real customer insight. The Success Team has also taken the feedback from our users to focus webinars on commonly visited sections of the application, leading to our [Filing Bootcamp]( webinar and [Setting Up NextChapter Notices]( overview. Next month will feature (in addition to our usual application [run-through]( a [Q&A with a Paralegal]( webinars on NextChapter integrations ([Clio]( [Payments]( [Credit Counseling Courses]( and [Interactive Training with the Success Team](. Past webinars can be accessed using the Help tab on the [NextChapter page](. You can also find and register for future webinars through the same tab. Or by clicking [here](. See you there! NACBA (3 years later) 🔥 The NextChapter team is excited to return to NACBA this May after a two-year hiatus. We will be there live and in-person to demo and chat with you about our bankruptcy program and several other tools and services we’ve added since our last NACBA rendezvous. Stop by the NextChapter booth to get a live demo of our bankruptcy petition preparation and filing program, learn more about both our Virtual Paralegals for bankruptcy and our Paralegals as a Service for all other practice areas and our most exciting announcement yet - Doc Creator for all practice areas. Our powerful document automation tool allows you to customize and streamline both firm created forms as well as court forms. Take the human error out of customization by utilizing our data merge tags so you never have to retype a form specific for a client or edit a motion to fit a particular judge’s requirements. We will have coffee and swag for all visitors and a team excited to see you in person! [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( Copyright © 2022 NextChapter, All rights reserved. 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