Lehman Brothers Holdings is looking to hire about 480 former employees to assist in winding down its business, according to court documents on Thursday.

Lehman said that during the first few weeks of its bankruptcy case it has been inundated with inquiries from traders, prime brokers, hedge funds, and others for information on their transactions, but its "current workforce is too small to manage this process without incurring unnecessary expenses and delay."

Barclays, which bought the company's core US assets last month, has continued the employment of more than 9,000 Lehman workers.

Barclays and Lehman have a transition services agreement whereby former employees of the investment bank will help it wind down its business. But Lehman said in court documents on Thursday that those employees are unable to devote the time and resources necessary to help Lehman wind-down its businesses.

Also if Barclays chooses to reduce the size of its work force acquired from Lehman, or the transition services agreement expires, Lehman said it would lose access to those employees.

"If the debtors and their advisors are going to preserve and maximize the value of the assets and transactions, they need employees who are dedicated and have an interest in preserving and maximizing values," Lehman said in the filing as it sought approval to hire the workers.

As of Oct. 24, Lehman said its workforce was comprised of about 140 employees and a team of about 125 from restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal. One of the firm's founders, Bryan Marsal, is serving as chief restructuring officer of Lehman.

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