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UCLA-LoPucki Bankruptcy Research Database (BRD)

Download the BRD 

Under an arrangement with the UCLA School of Law, copies of the UCLA-LoPucki Bankruptcy Research Database (BRD) are available free of charge to TMA members. TMA members can download Excel copies of the data and protocols by clicking on the link below.

An abbreviated version of the BRD also is publicly available along with a query generator for designing and running instant studies.

The BRD contains data on all large, public company bankruptcies filed since October 1, 1979. Through GVKEYs, BRD data can be linked to data from other sources, such as Compustat or CRSP. The BRD is updated monthly, in the first few days of the month.

What is the Bankruptcy Research Database?

The BRD is a research database that contains data on all large public company bankruptcies filing in the United States Bankruptcy Courts since October 1, 1979. What makes the BRD a “research” database is that the data are collected and categorized consistently according to precise definitions (the BRD “Protocols” which are furnished along with the data). Users do not need to clean the data or prepare it in order to generate statistics.

What you can do with the BRD

You can use an abbreviated version of the BRD on line or download the complete version as an Excel file (along with the BRD Protocols). You can use the data in Excel, or import the data into a database program such as Microsoft Access or a statistics program such as Stata. While you are getting used to the BRD, we suggest that you use the versions or programs with which you feel most comfortable.

1. Find a case on Pacer. The BRD contains court identifiers and case numbers for all large, public company bankruptcies filed in the United States since October 1, 1979. The data include case transfers.
2. Find confirmed plans on Pacer. The BRD contains the docket number for the confirmation order. Go to that docket number, and you will usually find a link to the confirmed plan. Even if the court hasn’t provided a link, the confirmation order identifies the confirmed plan unambiguously – assuring that you won’t waste your time analyzing the wrong plan.
3. Make a list of cases that meet your criteria. Want a list of all 363 sale cases? All prepacks in the Southern District of New York? The largest cases by asset size? You can generate standard lists in the online version of the database. You can also generate customized lists using the “filter” and “sort” functions on Excel.
4. Make tables and graphs showing trends or comparing cases. Once you have lists of cases, you can count them and use Excel to make tables and graphs. Those tables and graphs can show trends or compare cases across districts, cases sizes, plan types, and many other criteria. We have posted some samples of tables and graphs made from the BRD on our Web site.
5. Do empirical studies. For those with graphing and statistical skills, BRD data make publishable empirical studies quick and easy to do. You can do instant empirical studies on the BRD website; more sophisticated studies using the Excel version of the BRD; and even more sophisticated studies if you are willing to collect relevant data not already contained in the BRD.
6. Make predictions about cases. Patterns in the outcomes of past cases provide valuable information about the likely outcomes of future cases. Make a spreadsheet containing (1) the variable you’d like to predict (the dependent variable) and (2) the variables from which you’d like to predict it (the independent variables), for all relevant past cases. Run a regression in a statistics program such as Stata. Add the dependent variables for the case or cases you would like to predict, and run the prediction command. You will see the predicted dependent variable, along with confidence intervals for the prediction.
7. Participate in the Success-modeling Project. The Success-modeling Project is funded by grants from the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and the Turnaround Management Association. Over the period of the grant – February 1, 2011 through January 31, 2012, BRD researchers will collect the additional variables necessary to predict the success or failure of large public company bankruptcies by a variety of criteria. We, and the funding agencies, invite members of the ABI and TMA, along with academics worldwide, to use the new data to model success as they see it. We expect this success modeling to continue for several years after the data collection is complete. The goal is to determine what conditions make companies difficult to reorganize and what “treatments” are most successful.
8. Promote your firm. We invite TMA members to use analyses of BRD data to promote your firms. Although we restrict republication of our raw data (see below), we invite you to publish your analyses of BRD data on your firm’s website, in firm or industry newsletters, or in law review articles.

What you can’t do with it

Members’ uses are limited to those contemplated. Contemplated uses include (1) research for use in the member’s business, (2) research to serve the member’s clients or to promote the member’s firm, including the publication by member of tables and graphs compiled from BRD data, and (3) any other use we expressly agree to in writing. Contemplated uses do not include resale, private redistribution, or public release of all or a substantial portion of any monthly edition of the database.

Download the BRD