It is also a midsize firm in formation when many such operations are disintegrating.

And one midsize firm, Mercer Management Consulting, canceled interviews entirely and said it would not be hiring any summer interns this year.

She now earns $90,000 a year at a midsize corporate firm.

Through relationships with some midsize firms, he borrows additional staff on a project-by-project basis.

"The midsize firm was very good and very experienced," he said.

And with so many midsize firms falling all over themselves for "middle market" investment opportunities, avoiding such competition could prove to be genius.

A relative handful of thriving midsize firms operate along lines more or less familiar to American entrepreneurs, and they're a good bet to emerge from the rubble.

There, he specialized in advising midsize firms on mergers and acquisitions.

The midsize firm is going by the wayside unless it is a specialty shop.

Some Casualties Expected The story in the profession's second tier is grimmer, and some midsize firms are not expected to survive.