Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. may have collapsed in an epic spectacle more than three years ago, but for many restructuring advisers, the case is the gift that keeps on giving. Don't expect that to change anytime soon, either.

When debtors win confirmation of Chapter 11 plans -- as Lehman Brothers did in December -- or firms file their final fee applications, The Deal Pipeline typically closes the assignments, and their impact vanishes from the quarterly bankruptcy league tables. Lehman Brothers, though, is no ordinary debtor. It appears that most firms on the case, the largest by assets or liabilities in U.S. history, will still need to wrap up work long after the one-time brokerage and investment bank's liquidation plan goes into effect, which occurred on March 6.

The ideal example of this phenomenon: Alvarez & Marsal LLC.

"Now that plan confirmation is behind us, the focus has shifted to emergence, the post-effective board's due diligence and getting distributions paid to creditors," says A&M managing director John Suckow, also president and COO of Lehman Brothers. "A&M is expected to continue to work on the case post-emergence. Our role to manage the estate has not changed. There are still substantial assets to sell, substantial claims to mitigate and substantial responsibility to distribute cash, and that will continue for some time."

The firm (No. 3 among crisis management firms in the fourth quarter, with 31 cases) has greatly benefited from working on Lehman Brothers. It collected $512 million in fees and expenses through November, court papers show, with a sizable team engaged in roles from the C-suite (such as Suckow and A&M co-CEO Bryan Marsal, who doubles as Lehman's CEO) to forensic technology, real estate, loans and international operations. As the case begins to wind down, though, fewer advisers are at work.

"A&M has been decreasing both its fees and full-time employees on Lehman over the course of the bankruptcy," Suckow says. "Fees peaked in mid-2009 [they hit $18.55 million that June], and about 100 people have been redeployed to other assignments since then. This trend is expected to continue."

On the legal side, Chadbourne & Parke LLP (No. 24, 70 cases) is one of many on the case that will continue to provide representation for clients several quarters after Lehman's emergence. (Debtor counsel Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, which received $352.9 million through May for work on the case and seeks an additional $39.9 million in fees and expenses for June through September, did not respond to requests for comment.)

"We represent 15 or more different creditors from all over the world that the Lehman estate owes," Chadbourne partner David LeMay says. "Clients have ongoing claims-reconciliation matters that will extend beyond the exit date, and we'll be working post-bankruptcy, because the end of a case does not necessarily mean that the work concludes."

When the firm's Lehman assignments do wrap up, LeMay says it won't put a dent in Chadbourne's caseload -- though it would hit hard in the volume ranking, where the firm is No. 13 ($897 billion in total assets). "The amount of work that we are doing for creditors in the Lehman case is not a significant percentage of our overall business."

Indeed, Chadbourne was retained for several fourth-quarter filings, including the Chapter 15 case of Jakarta, Indonesia, dry-bulk carrier PT. Arpeni Pratama Ocean Line Tbk. ($500 million in assets).

Crisis management firm Goldin Associates LLC (No. 10, 16 cases; third by volume, $699.8 billion) is back for a second helping of Lehman Brothers. Goldin executive managing director David Pauker (No. 9, 11 assignments) and his firm were engaged as a litigation consultant to James Giddens, trustee for Lehman Brothers Inc. in its liquidation under the Securities Investor Protection Act, with issues involving Barclays plc. That engagement, Pauker says, has been over for more than a year. Recently, though, Pauker was named one of seven directors that will oversee the liquidation of Lehman Brothers Holdings under its Chapter 11 plan.

Pauker explains that there is no connection between his new role as director and the earlier role as adviser. "In November, I was approached by Korn/Ferry on behalf of the selection committee and was asked to interview for a role as a director under the Lehman plan," he says. "The committee had been unaware of my firm's prior role but generally seemed to consider it a positive factor."

Pauker is the only restructuring adviser named to the post-effective-date board of Lehman and was previously chief restructuring officer for bankrupt brokerage Refco Inc. He and his firm are continuing to take on other new engagements, but Pauker acknowledges preparing for his new role isn't a snap. "I told my firm I was attending classes at Lehman for most of January but would be ready for new engagements once the new board has come up to speed."

In the fourth quarter, though, Pauker added an assignment as financial adviser to residential mortgage insurance provider PMI Group Inc. ($225 million). The new mandates shot Pauker 13 spots up the volume table in the fourth quarter to fourth place ($675.4 billion in assets).

But not all firms can keep a good thing going. Lazard (No. 5 among investment banks, 15 cases; first by volume, $711.9 billion) is one for which the exit of Lehman will officially mark the end of its assignment as M&A adviser to the investment bank. "Our engagement is technically done on consummation, and we will continue to work until that point," says Barry Ridings, vice chairman of U.S. investment banking at Lazard. "But billions in assets remain, and Lehman has to decide how to monetize those assets."

Ridings adds that Lazard is "continuously replacing completed assignments with new business." In the fourth quarter, Lazard added assignments such as Dynegy Holdings LLC ($13.8 billion) and General Maritime Corp. ($1.7 billion).

The size of those cases also hints at what could be in store for the entire restructuring community in the wake of Lehman. The fourth quarter saw the three largest bankruptcies of 2011 -- MF Global Holdings Ltd. ($41 billion), AMR Corp. ($24.7 billion) and Dynegy Holdings -- as well as five of the year's 10 largest Chapter 11 cases, which include General Maritime.

"Statistically, the third quarter of 2011 was the first recent quarter where large bankruptcy filings were up from the previous quarter, and the fourth quarter of 2011 was up from the third," A&M managing director Jeffery Stegenga says.

"Companies still have meaningful leverage that needs to be addressed. They are starting to look ahead and say, 'I've got some challenges.' The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that you have euro-zone issues overseas, which have an unsettling impact on the U.S. capital markets."

In such an environment, restructuring firms may have few problems saying goodbye to Lehman Brothers when the time comes.