Bankruptcies Boom.

What is the fastest growing group at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, the Century City-based corporate evaluation firm? "Our bankruptcy practice," said Jim Zukin, founder and nameplate partner. "What people don't realize is that as part of these boom-times, credit quality in high-yield financing has gone down."

With lenders loosening their standards, "last year there were more defaults in high-yield bonds than at any time since the beginning of the junk-bond wave in the early 1980s," said Zukin. As a result, HLHZ financial gumshoes are increasingly called in by creditors to figure out what the carcass is worth, and help devise strategies to maximize returns.

But lest anyone think HLHZ isn't Web-hip, Zukin quickly adds, "We now have more than 100 Internet clients, and our mergers business is increasing rapidly in that field. The business is consolidating."

Larger public Internet companies are buying smaller private ones, said Zukin. Again, that requires the services of corporate evaluation gurus.

By the way, HLHZ, which only yesterday seemed like a vest-pocket business, now has more than 400 employees. Zukin said, "Our slowest growing departments are increasing business at 30 percent a year. Bankruptcy grew by 50 percent last year."