Legal Beat

The Judicial Conference has told congressional appropriators that it needs $87 million less for fiscal year 2010 than previously thought.

In a letter Tuesday to the leaders of the Senate and House Appropriations subcommittees that write the relevant spending bill, Conference Secretary James C. Duff said that one reason for the lower figure is that increased revenue from bankruptcy fees will be bigger than previously projected.

Duff said that in May, the conference projected 1,417,200 bankruptcy filings by individuals and corporations for fiscal 2010, an increase of more than 30,000 filings from what it originally projected for its fiscal 2010 budget request. Now, the conference is projecting 1,500,500 filings for fiscal 2010.