Bankruptcies were up 14% in February across the United States verses February 2009, and 9% above January 2009, according to the National Bankruptcy Research Center data. The federal government statistics, which were released on March 2, 2010 for 2009, indicated 1,473,675 bankruptcy filings in 2009, a 31.9% rise in filings for 2009 over the previous year. Chapter 7 personal bankruptcies were up 41% (from 744,364 in 2008 to 1,050,832 in 2009) We will continue to inform our clients of the trends in the federal bankruptcy courts, and especially in the Massachusetts district.