Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy has cost its people more than $225 million in a year, only in lawyers and financial consultants. The expense in restructuring professional services is projected to surpass $1.2 billion by 2023, including the budget of the island’s federally imposed Fiscal Control Board. I suggested to my editor lines such as these as possible leads for a series of stories over the billing in professional services as part of the Puerto Rico government’s bankruptcy process. I did not succeed. When talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, figures alone fall short in showing the magnitude of the matter.

As part of Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy process, two committees represent retirees and unsecured creditors, which include public employees, teachers, government contractors and everyone who has monetary claims against the commonwealth government.

While the attorneys and consultants of Puerto Rico’s Fiscal Control Board provide restructuring services and financial advice, the Government of Puerto Rico depends on its own squad of law firms and advisers, some of them former public officials who took part of the fiscal decisionmaking that led to the island’s fiscal woes.

Martin Bienenstock sits in the audience, looking at his tablet. As the twelfth public meeting of Puerto Rico’s Fiscal Control Board takes place, he raises his eyes, adjusts his glasses, frowns and pays attention to the discussion. Nothing seems to happen and his eyes go back to the electronic device. Bienenstock, a partner at New York-based Proskauer Rose, is a well-known lawyer in the corporate restructuring industry. With almost 40 years of experience, he has participated in many of the largest bankruptcies in the U.S., including a key role in the restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler, and representing now-defunct Enron in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy.