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LEDES 1998B explained: what an electronic invoice must contain

LEDES 1998B is the plain-text invoice format most corporate legal departments and insurers require from outside counsel. It is a pipe-delimited file with one line per fee or expense entry, and every line carries the same fixed set of fields: who the client is, which matter, who did the work, on what date, for how long, at what rate, and — the part that trips firms up — standardized UTBMS codes saying what kind of work it was. A file with a missing code or an unrecognised timekeeper is rejected by the client's e-billing system before a human ever reads the narrative.

What the format is

LEDES stands for Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard. The 1998B revision is the oldest still in wide use and the one most e-billing vendors accept by default. The file begins with a header line naming the format, followed by a line listing the field names, followed by one data line per line item. Fields are separated by the pipe character and each line ends with []. Dates are written as YYYYMMDD, amounts without currency symbols. There is exactly one invoice per file.

The fields a client checks first

• CLIENT_ID — the client's own identifier for itself, issued by their legal department. Not your client number.
• LAW_FIRM_ID — the identifier the client assigned to your firm, usually a tax ID or vendor number.
• LAW_FIRM_MATTER_ID and CLIENT_MATTER_ID — your matter number and the client's reference for the same matter. Both are required, and the client's one must match their records exactly.
• TIMEKEEPER_ID, TIMEKEEPER_NAME and TIMEKEEPER_CLASSIFICATION — who did the work, with a classification such as PT (partner), AS (associate) or PL (paralegal). Clients pre-approve timekeepers and reject lines from anyone not on the list.
• EXP/FEE/INV_ADJ_TYPE — whether the line is a fee (F), an expense (E), or an invoice-level adjustment.
• LINE_ITEM_TASK_CODE and LINE_ITEM_ACTIVITY_CODE on fee lines; LINE_ITEM_EXPENSE_CODE on expense lines.
• LINE_ITEM_NUMBER_OF_UNITS, LINE_ITEM_UNIT_COST, LINE_ITEM_TOTAL and the invoice total, which must foot.

UTBMS codes in one paragraph

The Uniform Task-Based Management System gives every piece of legal work a code. Task codes describe the phase (L110 fact investigation, L310 written discovery, L450 trial); activity codes describe what was done within it (A101 plan and prepare for, A103 draft, A104 review); expense codes describe disbursements (E101 copying, E112 court fees, E119 experts). A fee line needs a task code and an activity code and no expense code. An expense line needs an expense code and neither of the others. Mixing them is the single most common reason a file is bounced.

Why "almost right" is rejected

E-billing systems validate mechanically. A blank task code, a timekeeper ID that does not match the approved list, a client matter ID with a typo, a fee line carrying an expense code, or line totals that do not sum to the invoice total each fail the whole file. The rejection often arrives days later, after the invoice was thought sent, and the payment clock restarts when a corrected file is accepted. The cost of a LEDES error is measured in weeks of cash flow.

Producing a file that passes

Capture the codes when the work is recorded, not when the invoice is due: a timekeeper knows on the day whether the hour was drafting or review; nobody remembers in a month. Keep the client's identifiers on the client and matter records, and the timekeeper IDs and classifications on the people, so every export draws from the same place. Validate before producing the file, and read the list of what is missing while the entries can still be fixed.

How ModusBill does it

ModusBill stores the LEDES identifiers where they belong — client ID on the client, the two matter IDs on the matter, timekeeper ID and classification on the firm member — and UTBMS task and activity codes on each time entry and flat fee, and expense codes on each expense. On the invoice page a readiness panel lists every field that would fail, by line, before the file exists; when it is clean, the LEDES 1998B file is generated from the same invoice the client would see printed, so the two cannot disagree. LEDES export is included in every tier.