About 8 million Americans are out of work, bankruptcies are up 32% over last year, and foreclosures on homes continue to rise.
A greater number of junior lawyers also want to work on bankruptcy cases, said Richard F. Hahn, co-chairman of the bankruptcy practice at Debevoise & Plimpton.
The next time the business cycle hits bottom, she said, many people who are now solidly employed may find themselves out of work with bankruptcy as their only recourse.
Personally, I'm more of a Minskyite than a Stiglitzian, although not 100%; although things like subprime lending were, I believe, mainly about forgetting the past, Elizabeth Warren's old work on bankruptcy pretty clearly shows that at least some families took on excess debt as a result of rising inequality.
Ms. Warren, an assistant to the president and a special adviser to the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, disclosed in government filings that she earned more than $100,000 over the last two years for consulting work on bankruptcy law and for providing expert-witness research in a class-action lawsuit involving the credit card businesses of major United States banks.
She became involved with public work in bankruptcy regulation and consumer protection in the mid-1990s.
Now, Mr. Parker is angling to take over Mr. Horton's company as it works through bankruptcy.
"I've never sold a house," said Barbara Katz, the Briggses' trustee, who has worked on bankruptcy cases since 1992.
Auto dealers also point to the revival in leasing, which slowed in the recession as G.M. and Chrysler worked through bankruptcy, as a factor.
BLOOMBERG NEWS Debt Investors Consider Options for AMR | As the parent company of American Airlines works through bankruptcy, a group of bondholders is said to be "open to a merger with US Airways Group," The Wall Street Journal reports.
