How did MBB and T2s navigate thru 2009?

It's been already 8 years since we hit rock bottom, but all of that doesn't seem to matter now as the market seems to be on euphoria and when S&P500 have gained more than 250% since then. But I remember those days clearly. I was in college and my business professor did not show up to class because his pension fund evaporated. Upperclassmates who graduated 1-2 years earlier were all laid off. And most types of enterprises that I was familiar with back then all approached the issue similarly: massive layoff within the 1-3 years. I do know that some took a slightly different approach and made all employees take massive pay cuts (these were limited partnerships with less than 100 employees).

Have any of you folks been around management consulting long enough to know the war stories of MBBs and other T2 firms during the recession? I'm very curious to know of the strategies each of them came up for themselves.