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LEDES Billing

LEDES 1998B is a standard format for electronic legal billing that uses a very specific format guide.

Updated over a week ago

LEDES 1998B is a standard format for electronic legal billing that uses a very specific format guide. The LEDES Oversight Committee has prepared a complete list of Timekeeper classification codes (last revised August 2014).

Creating LEDES 1998B Formatted Bills

Enabling LEDES Billing in your MyCase Account

To enable LEDES Billing within your MyCase account you must first enable this feature within the firm's Client Invoice & Billing Settings (Settings > Client Billing & Invoice > LEDES Billing). Once this feature has been enabled, you will then be able to complete the remaining steps to set up your cases for LEDES Billing. Once you enable this feature globally for your firm, can now choose which of your cases have UTBMS codes associated with them by selecting the option for LEDES billing in your Case Details (Case Details > Edit > LEDES Billing). You can also enable a case for LEDES billing during the initial creation of the case. Once the case has been enabled for LEDES billing, that case will now have all UTBMS codes added to your Time Entries and Expenses for use when entering those items as well.

Enabling LEDES Billing in Client Billing & Invoice Settings:

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Enabling LEDES Billing for a case:

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Utilizing the LEDES 1998B Billing Feature

At the firm, you can continue to create time entries and expenses as you normally would for your cases, however, now you'll notice that the fields for Activity Code, Task Code, and Expense Code have been added respectfully.


Time Entry Modal

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Expense Entry Modal

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The generated LEDES formatted bill will include the appropriate UTBMS Task and Expense codes:

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There are a few things that will be required to take place before LEDES Bills can be generated:

  • All Firm Users will need to set their Timekeeper Classification in Firm User Settings.

  • Each case will need to be assigned LEDES Client/Matter ID’s.

  • Each case will need to be assigned LEDES Law Firm ID/ Matter ID's.

  • For outstanding entries requiring LEDES formatting, the entries will need to be edited to include the correct UTBMS codes.

More details about these steps are listed below.

* Please Note: Setting the invoice start & end dates for and invoice are NOT required for a LEDES bill. However, a warning will appear letting you know that the LEDES bill is missing some required fields. Also, if there is a Balance forward on the invoice, the LEDES format will not be generated.

Downloading LEDES 1998B Formatted Bills

LEDES 1998B bills can be generated and downloaded by first creating the invoice as you normally would in MyCase, opening the invoice in your account, hovering over the ‘Download icon’ (downward facing arrow with a line beneath it), and clicking “Download LEDES 1998B”.

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Once you have completed this process , the file will download to your computer for your further use.

Viewing and Editing Entries in MyCase:

When you select to enable LEDES Billing for your firm, additional columns will now be displayed with view the overview of your Time Entries & Expenses: UTBMS Activity Code, UTBMS Task Code, UTBMS Expense Code respectfully.

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If you ever need to edit the UTBMS codes associated with any Time Entry or Expense you can return to the appropriate screen in your main billing tab or case file and edit the time entry there. Currently, you will not be able to edit these codes during the creation of the invoice.

Overview of LEDES Fields in MyCase

ID Number

Field Name

Description

01

INVOICE_DATE

Issue Date of the Invoice.

02

INVOICE_NUMBER

Invoice Number in MyCase.

03

CLIENT_ID

A unique number that is given to each Contact and is assigned by your firm in MyCase. This can be added or changed from the Edit Case screen, under the LEDES Client ID field. If your firm does not have a Client ID then you can always use the one assigned by MyCase in the URL bar.

04

LAW_FIRM_MATTER_ID

The law firm assigned Matter code. This can be added or changed from the Edit Case screen, under the LEDES Law Firm Matter ID field.

05

INVOICE_TOTAL

Invoice total after any Discounts, Additions, Interest, and/or Taxes applied.

06

BILLING_START_DATE

The starting date for the billing period. Each LEDES invoice will need to be given a date range in order to be exported. The date range can be given by selecting Filter by date range check box and selecting a Start Date when creating an invoice.

07

BILLING_END_DATE

The ending date for the billing period. Each LEDES invoice will need to be given a date range in order to be exported. The date range can be given by selecting Filter by date range check box and selecting an End Date when creating an invoice.

08

INVOICE_DESCRIPTION

This field will populate any data listed in the Notes section of the created invoice.

09

LINE_ITEM_NUMBER

Number of the line item on the invoice ordered from the oldest to newest item.

10

EXP/FEE/INV_ADJ_TYPE

This field will identify the type of line item for each item on the Bill. This will be populated with either Expense, Fee, IF (Adjustment on Fees) or IE (Adjustment on Expenses).

  • Expense = E

  • Time = F

  • Tax = IE and IF (will create a line for the total of each)

  • Invoice Discount = IE and IF (will create a line for the total of each with a negative amount)

11

LINE_ITEM_NUMBER_OF_UNITS

This will be the Quantity field within either a Time or Expense entry.

12

LINE_ITEM_ADJUSTMENT_AMOUNT

This field will be blank in a LEDES Bill unless the line item has a discount applied to it. A line item discount will create a negative amount in this field.

13

LINE_ITEM_TOTAL

Total amount of the line item.

14

LINE_ITEM_DATE

Date of the line item. This is taken from the date listed on the time entry or expense.

15

LINE_ITEM_TASK_CODE

Task Code that had been selected for the Time Entry linked to the case file.

16

LINE_ITEM_EXPENSE_CODE

Expense Code that had been selected for the Expense Entry linked to the case file.

17

LINE_ITEM_ACTIVITY_CODE

Activity Code that had been selected for the Time Entry linked to the case file.

18

TIMEKEEPER_ID

This will populate the initials of the Timekeeper (Firm User).

19

LINE_ITEM_DESCRIPTION

This will be populated with the Time/Expense line item description that was listed in MyCase. If this is left blank an error will occur when attempting to export the LEDES BIll.

20

LAW_FIRM_ID

This is taken from 'LEDES Law Firm ID’ listed within the Case description of every case file. You can edit this by selecting the Edit button with Case details.

21

LINE_ITEM_UNIT_COST

This will populate with the users hourly rate for a Time Entry or the quantity of an Expense.

22

TIMEKEEPER_NAME

Full name of the Timekeeper (Firm User) in MyCase.

23

TIMEKEEPER_CLASSIFICATION

This is populated from your Firm User Settings. You can add or change this by entering Settings > Firm Users > Select the User > LEDES Timekeeper ID.

24

CLIENT_MATTER_ID

The client specific Matter code. This is taken from the Client Reference Number field in the Case details.

Timekeeper Classification

Before LEDES Billing can be completed each user must have their own Timekeeper Classification listed within their Firm User Details. To change this, enter Settings > Firm User > Click on a User's Name > Edit > Timekeeper Classification. The full list of classification codes can be found on ledes.org.

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LEDES Client/Matter ID’s

A unique number that is given to each Contact and is assigned by your firm in MyCase. This can be added or changed from the Edit Case screen, under the LEDES Client ID field. If your firm does not have a Client ID then you can always use the one assigned by MyCase in the URL bar.

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LEDES Law Firm/ Matter ID's

The Law Firm Matter ID and Law Firm ID's can also be entered in the same place where you would enter your Client ID's. The Law Firm ID can also be identified as your firms Tax ID number.

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