Back in 2006, months before signs of a bursting real estate bubble, Tom Lehman said some bold-faced names in the development business started showing up at his office with tales of impending distress.

Sales were slowing, closings fell apart and financing partners backed off. Without admitting misgivings, some developers would coyly “ask what they needed to do if there was a downturn.”

Because he saw a spike in inquiries just before the market began tanking, Lehman, a founding partner at Levine, Kellogg, Lehman, Schneider & Grossman, who co-chairs the firm's bankruptcy group, considers himself “the canary in the coal mine” for any impending real estate downturn.