For Lehman Staffers, a Long Walk Home

Lehman employees leaving work on the day the firm filed for bankruptcy faced a tumult of reporters, gawkers, opportunists — and even a few who just wanted to help

Louis Lanzano / AP

Lehman Brothers headquarters in New York.

So much for "Masters of the Universe." On Monday, being an employee of Lehman Bros. looked about as much fun as a perp walk. Overnight, the 158-year-old Wall Street behemoth filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection , a stunning collapse that may leave thousands of employees without jobs. With $639 billion in assets, the firm's filing is the largest in history . Throughout the day, as media crews hovered around the entrance to the firm's Midtown Manhattan headquarters, some of Wall Street's best and brightest trickled out onto the pavement, their faces crestfallen and their ties yanked...

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