More than two years later, Weil, Gotshal & Manges partner Harvey Miller still has a tone of indignation in his voice when he recalls the chaos that surrounded the days leading up to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. 2008 bankruptcy filing and, eventually, liquidation. Describing his first appearance in U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan on behalf of Lehman that September, he says: “At the hearing some attorney said, ‘This is the worst-planned Chapter 11 I’ve seen,’ ” says Miller, who had been retained just days earlier and had been working around the clock to prepare the filing, “ I said, ‘You’re wrong. This was not a planned Chapter 11. This was unplanned.’ “

Planned or not, the Lehman bankruptcy has become iconic, the biggest in a string of filings by some of corporate America’s best-known household names during the recession of 2008 and 2009. Size was part of the reason: Valued at nearly $700 billion, the demise of thefinancial services stalwart was (and is) the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. And then there was its speed: The round-the-clock, weekend-long negotiations with creditors and government officials came to define the economic downturn. Half of the top ten largest U.S. bankruptcies ever occurred during the most recent downturn. This group includes well-known brands such as General Motors Corporation, Washington Mutual, Inc., and Tribune Company.

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