Public Filings with Private Data? A Look At Bankruptcy’s Conflict With Data-Privacy Laws

Stretto General Counsel Chris Updike and Levenfeld Pearlstein Attorney Elizabeth B. Vandesteeg tackle bankruptcy’s privacy crisis in the ABI Journal November 2025 cover story. Bankruptcy law demands openness while privacy laws demand protection, leaving courts and practitioners to navigate the fallout as they wrestle with data rights, redaction duties, and privacy liability in a system that prioritizes transparency – not privacy. The solution requires clerks, judges, trustees, professionals, and agents to collaborate now on uniform guidance for handling personal information in bankruptcy cases.