(FORTUNE Magazine) – Filing for protection from creditors under the bankruptcy code used to be akin to contracting a social disease. Not anymore. Says Thomas J. Salerno, a partner at Streich Lang, the Phoenix law firm representing creditors of Continental Airlines and Southland, operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores, both of which are in Chapter 11 reorganization: ''Chapter 11 is no longer an embarrassment. People have watched megacompanies like Texaco and Manville go in, clean up their balance sheets creatively, and come out whole.'' (See table for some that survived.) More than 18,000 U.S. companies filed for Chapter 11 in 1989, an estimated 20,500 in 1990. Beard Group, a Chevy Chase, Maryland, research firm, predicts that another 21,500 will take this course in 1991 (see chart). The debt-crazed 1980s set many on this path. This year's entrants into Chapter 11 include Eagle-Picher Industries, which faces asbestos injury claims, just like Manville. Also, Insilco, a manufacturing conglomerate stuck with $778 million in debt, and cash-strapped Pan Am. Chapter 11 doesn't protect against accountants, lawyers, or investment bankers. Their bill can run to $1 million a month. Says Robert Miller, a Manhattan bankruptcy attorney at Berlack Israels & Liberman: ''It's perpetual Christmas for us. Bankruptcy used to be a dirty-shirt business. You went into it if you couldn't go into anything else.'' No more. One way to cut such fees: the increasingly common practice of prepackaging your bankruptcy. Creditors have the opportunity to preapprove your restructuring plans. This should cut the time you'll be in Chapter 11 -- and your help's billable hours.

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: NO CREDIT CAPTION: LIFE AFTER CHAPTER 11 FOR SIX BIG SURVIVORS

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: NO CREDIT CAPTION: MORE GO FOR BROKE