(Bloomberg) -- The coronavirus is threatening to destroy businesses large and small -- and that’s got bankruptcy lawyers’ phones ringing off the hook.

The economic shock of the social isolation measures being taken across the U.S. to mitigate the pandemic threatens to put millions of Americans out of work and leaves companies in a raft of industries wondering how they’ll make payroll.

Already, even as bankruptcy lawyers themselves adjust to the new routine of working from home, many are seeing a spike in business they haven’t experienced since the September 2001 terrorist attacks and the 2008 global financial crisis.

“I think that at some level this process is going to rewrite the rules of restructuring,” Squire Patton Boggs attorney Karol Denniston said. “We’ve never lived at a time where we had to face this many factors at the same time.”

With a sudden collapse of demand in the airline, restaurant, hotel, oil and gas, and retail industries caused by widespread calls for home quarantines, social distancing and other measures to blunt the spread of the virus, companies are desperately looking for both short- and long-term financial strategies. Bankruptcy practice groups are busiest when the economy is squeezed. When the whole world is thrown into a panic, the demand for restructuring expertise skyrockets.

The phones started ringing nonstop over the past week, much as they did in 2008, said Jessica Boelter of Sidley Austin LLP.

“This has created emergencies that we have not specifically dealt with before,” Boelter said.

Some financial, law and bankruptcy advisory firms had already begun to prepare, if not quite for this.

“I think that smart firms did it before now, but we were all thinking about when the shoe was going to drop, and I think we’re going to see a lot of it now,” said Ira Coleman, chairman of the law firm McDermott Will Emery. “I think that you’ll have folks continuing to build up the practice, but the ones who had the head start are going to be better off at it.”

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Coleman added that “you’re going to see lateral movement in the area for sure,” referring to hiring partners or associates away from other law firms to prepare for all the work.

The nation’s central bank and federal, state and local governments are rushing out measures to ward off an economic catastrophe. If they succeed, there may not be as great a need for bigger bankruptcy practices. But as Democrats and Republicans fight over a massive economic stimulus bill, firms are getting ready.

Like Coleman, law firm consultant Kent Zimmermann of the Zeughauser Group also sees a continuum, with a sharp ramp-up in the age of the virus.

“Many firms were already seeing an uptick in restructuring and bankruptcy work before the start of the bear market, particularly firms known for serving industries under stress, starting with energy and retail,” Zimmermann said. “Now demand is picking up for other industries under increasing stress, including transportation, leisure and hospitality, and others. High-performing restructuring lawyers with big followings are an increasingly hot commodity.”

Zimmermann sees still other practice groups, including private equity, benefiting as well.

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“PE will benefit from a mountain of dry power that will be deployed into the market as investors take advantage of distressed assets, lower valuations and other favorable conditions for investors,” he said. “Many firms were already focused on growing PE before this started, but star teams of lawyers known for distressed PE and deals in sectors with bright futures in the current environment -- life sciences and tech among them -- are increasingly busy, as you would imagine.”

Zach Shelomith, a partner in Fort Lauderdale at the five-lawyer shop Leiderman, Shelomith Alexander + Somodevilla, which focuses on small businesses and consumer bankruptcy, expects a substantial jump in reorganization filings.

“Small businesses suffering from revenue loss during the current crisis that have a viable business plan are just the right kind of candidates for filings under the new Small Business Reorganization Act that went into effect in February,” Shelomith said. The law added a new subchapter in Chapter 11 allowing for streamlined reorganization for small businesses within specified debt limits.

Shelomith said he’s already considering adding more attorneys or other staff to prepare for all the work.

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