Lucas Ruffing Law

Bankruptcy Blog

A Retrospective of the 1st Quarter of the 21st Century

Welcome to 2026! We’ve now completed the first 25 years of the century. A quarter century in the books. Crazy. A lot has changed.

Personally:

  • I entered the century as a 6th grader, now I’m 37

  • I started and completed middle school, high school, college, and law school

  • I’ve had about 15 different addresses

  • I’ve had about 10 different jobs

  • I’ve now been a lawyer for 13 years (2013)

  • I’ve been doing bankruptcy law for 12 years (2014)

  • (this is all mind-blowing to me right now!)

Nationally:

  • The twin towers were still standing 25 years ago

  • 9/11 hadn’t occurred

  • The USA entered and exited a 20-ish-year war all within the past 25 years

  • The USA had a years-long housing crisis, and recovered

  • The world had a years-long pandemic, and recovered

  • We entered the century and most Americans didn’t own a cell phone. Now, we live on them, and our lives run through them

  • We can do a hi-def video call from basically anywhere on earth… instantaneously

  • The internet was slow and clunky in 2000. Now we watch live TV via the internet…. From basically anywhere on earth

  • We have self-driving cars

  • We have developed, and integrated Artificial Intelligence into our society… and I think we’re on the brink of having AI manage much of our lives

Bankruptcy Filings :: Southern District of Ohio :: 2000-2025

  • See chart below! (You may have to rotate your phone to view the chart)

  • Note: There was a significant bankruptcy law change in 2005

Lucas Ruffing