Apocalypse Now: Looking Back at 2009

The winner of this venerable award sits at the intersection of so many of the year’s trends: The rise of Weil, the fall of Leh­man, the ubiquity of bankruptcy. Sure, bankruptcy guru Harvey Miller was an easy choice. But somewhere down the hall from Miller’s corner office, tucked deep inside a building humming with bankruptcy lawyers, is associate Sunny Singh. The man billed a mind-bending 988 hours on the Lehman ­Brothers bankruptcy during a four-month period in 2009. That works out to more than eight hours billed per day on Lehman, even assuming that he worked every day of every month. He is the steam shovel to Miller’s Mike Mulligan.

Well, at least he has a job. Probably the biggest story of 2009 was how many people lost theirs. Firms disappeared like equity in a house in Phoenix. Hundreds of people laid off at Latham & Watkins. Hundreds more at Orrick. Smaller, stealthier numbers elsewhere. Widespread associate deferrals made mincemeat of the once-entrenched associate hierarchy. And the lawyers that remained kept the air-conditioning turned up high so they wouldn’t fall asleep.