For One Breed of Wall Street Bankers, Business Is Booming Again

The job market is grim on Wall Street. Trading desks are shrinking, hiring is flat, even incentive pay is taking a hit. Except in one little corner of the financial world, where managers can’t read resumes fast enough.

The turnaround expert is in hot demand.

With company after company in oil, coal, retail, and other industries in distress — the Bloomberg Bankruptcy Index is at a six-year high — business is booming. Banks are assembling or expanding teams, with Lazard, Guggenheim Partners, Perella Weinberg Partners, and AlixPartners all hiring, often within a circle of familiar faces. Lazard’s global restructuring head, David Kurtz, ...