There is an old adage among restructuring lawyers that there is no point frittering away money on creditors when it can be better spent on commercial advisers. The joke is only used among those experienced enough to make light of such a sensitive topic.

But even some of the City's most seasoned restructuring partners have expressed surprise – and envy – at the level of fees Allen & Overy (A&O) has earned from the liquidation of furniture outlet Courts. The firm is taking a significant share of the £18.5m paid in professional services fees

Some rivals question the size of some of the bills, with one partner commenting: "Courts has been a very nice pot-boiler for A&O. The British Energy fees were in the region of £50m, for a massive business. When you look at Courts, compared with the value of assets, it seems like a very big figure."

Some have even gone so far as to say that a serious look at how the UK insolvency proceedings work in comparison to the US' Chapter 11 proceedings is called for. In the US the involvement of a judge can help make sure there are no needless delays. The accountant-led UK system is often criticised for playing safe, leading to drawn-out processes with high adviser fees. Then again, in the US, where management teams have far more sway, praise for speed and the better representation of shareholders' interests is tempered by the high costs of a court-based system.

A&O restructuring partner Ian Field comments: "Large cross-border restructurings are expensive procedures, but I do not think restructurings based on UK procedures are more expensive than those based on Chapter 11. UK procedures are extremely flexible and there are a number of great new tools to use in the next wave of restructurings."

There are some excuses for the high costs. While insolvency partner charge-out rates are not in themselves disproportionate – they are lower than tax partner rates at top firms – many proceedings drag on for several years over multiple jurisdictions requiring significant man power.

Unlike their corporate counterparts, restructuring lawyers rarely take large success fees although, as one partner puts it, it is not unheard of in the current quiet market for firms to 'take a flyer' in case they are successful.

And while firms argue that the globalisation of companies leads to proceedings becoming more complex, perhaps more relevantly, the increasingly structured debt market has brought rising numbers of advisers to the fray.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer restructuring head Ken Baird says: "The multiplicity of fees are a direct product of the number of parties involved. There are more and more ways to layer debt as the financial markets extract more value. It is the cost of doing complex business."

In this context the professional adviser fees are always going to be substantial, whether or not firms can justify their staffing and efficiency through the process. This is especially pronounced when restructurings fail, with the fees rising rapidly as soon as a company is liquidated.

As one insolvency partner admits: "Complex companies will continue to collapse. Advisers will continue to take large chunks of fees. Gone are the halcyon days of the restructuring lawyer, but that does not mean we do not allow ourselves a sly smile when a client is in trouble."