Out of Work on Wall St.? Call This Number

Tens of thousands of Wall Street workers are jobless these days, which means good business for Jeffrey Liddle. The New York employment lawyer, known for winning millions in damages for out-of-work bankers and brokers, has seen an influx of clients lately. But now he's telling clients not to sue ex-bosses: It's hard to win when "the whole industry almost went out of business," he says.

Liddle also fears that judges and arbitrators are less sympathetic to his clients: "They're not differentiating their anger between Dick Fuld and the janitor," he told Portfolio. So Liddle's firm is branching out to include corporate and securities matters, a move he says has been in the works for a year. Still, he doubts that JP Morgan will hire him, because "their in-house lawyers think I'm the worst thing that ever walked on the earth." (More Wall Street stories.)