Members of the Jacksonville Bankruptcy Bar Association gathered Thursday for their holiday party at The River Club Downtown.
The bankruptcy bar consists of about 160 members. About 80 members attended the reception.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judges Paul Glenn and Jerry Funk also attended. They preside over cases in the Middle District of Florida Jacksonville Division.
The Middle District encompasses 35 of the state’s 67 counties, including the metropolitan areas of Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Daytona Beach, Ocala and Fort Myers.
According to the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida website, the district stretches more than 350 miles from the Georgia border to south of Naples on the southwest coast. The clerk’s office is based in Orlando with divisions in Jacksonville, Tampa, Fort Myers and Ocala.
More than 10 million people, or more than 57 percent of the state’s population, reside in the district. Also, 15 of the 20 most densely populated counties are in the district.
The 16-county Jacksonville division consists of Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Flagler, Hamilton, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Sumter, Suwannee, Union and Volusia counties.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court statistics show that as of September, the Middle District was the third busiest among 90 federal districts in the country.
For the 12 months ending in September, the Central California District had 139,882 filings, followed by the Northern Illinois District with 60,976 filings and the Middle District of Florida with 56,972 filings.
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