[ by Melanie Gretchen and Howard Haykin] For Dewey & LeBoeuf partners and associates, the loss of a job is probably the least of their concerns.  As we've seen, teams of attorneys, anchored by key partners, have quickly joined other law firms that welcome the opportunity to fortify existing practices or to launch new practices with established legal teams. The financially crippled firm is likely to leave little to its former partners and retirees.  They probably will never see the money they were required to invest in the firm.  They could lose their pensions.  They may have to give back money they've already been paid - i.e., "clawbacks." Status Update. While many partners were able to secure new jobs, Dealbook's personal finance writer Tara Siegel Bernard followed the activities of several attorneys and found unhinged personal lives - filled with difficult conversations with spouses, phone calls to advisers and even for-sale signs on front lawns. "I tell them that the minute they leave my office or end our phone call, they should immediately contact a personal bankruptcy lawyer and take steps to protect themselves," said Jerome Kowalski, a lawyer who is consulting with some Dewey partners and has been involved in the demise of previous law firms. All the Way Down. Troubles trickled down beyond the partner levels - affecting Dewey attorneys, staff assistants and office administrators, as well as its retirees and retirees’ widows.  All will be pulled into the swirl of this sinking ship.  Attorneys and staff members learned in early May that their health insurance benefits were suspended - retroactive to April 1 - for nonpayment of premiums.  This prompted a lawyer to remark that it's "unbelievable," adding "It's one thing not to pay Westlaw or Seamless Web, buy completely another not to pay health premiums - and then not tell [the staff] about it." Employees who had 401(k) retirement plans, by which the firm matched their contributions up to 3% of their salary, said they would take that, but not much else, according to a legal assistant who has worked at the firm for several years, speaking on condition of anonymity because she still works at Dewey "There are staff members who have been with the firm for over 30 years and are being ushered out without a proper package — well, without a package at all," she said. The End of the Line. There is not much the partners can do for themselves at this point, Tracy L. Klestadt, a bankruptcy lawyer who represented former law partners at Thelen LLP and Heller Ehrman LLP in the bankruptcies of those firms, said.  "In my experience, most of the time partners will end up settling with either a bankruptcy trustee or a creditor’s committee." Their sympathizers would seem to be few and far between.   Emily Bond, 79, retired in 1989 from legacy LeBoeuf, where she was the office administrator for nearly 30 years. Her annual pension is $63,000 but she said she might lose about two-thirds of that. "The partners are, I think, guilty at least of selfishness for not paying the required funding.  I hope they feel ashamed." For further details, go to [NYTimes, 5/11/12].