Research Looks at Implicit or Explicit Bias in the Bankruptcy System - Episode 194

ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano talks with Prof. Robert M. Lawless of the University of Illinois College of Law, a co-author of the 2012 study titled "Surrounding Race, Attorney Influence and Bankruptcy Chapter Choice," about the findings of racially disparate uses of chapter 13 bankruptcy. Lawless presented an update of the study's findings in October at the 2016 National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges Annual Meeting, revealing that race continues to be a factor in the chapter choice for debtors, sometimes to their financial detriment, in certain parts of the country.