Free tools · Electronic billing

LEDES 1998B validator

Check a LEDES 1998B invoice before you upload it to a client's e-billing system. Add the file below and the validator reads every line the way those systems do: the 24 fields, the dates, the UTBMS task, activity and expense codes, the timekeepers, and whether the totals add up. It lists what a client's system would reject and what is worth a second look, line by line. Free, with no sign-up.

Your file stays on your computer. It is read and checked by your browser. Nothing is uploaded or stored.

Stop fixing LEDES files after they bounce

ModusBill keeps the client, matter and timekeeper IDs on the records they belong to and the UTBMS codes on each entry, checks every line on the invoice before the file exists, and produces the 1998B file from the same invoice the client sees. LEDES export is included in every plan.

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What the validator checks

  • The file's shape: LEDES1998B[] on the first line, the 24 field names in their fixed order, 24 fields on every line, and [] at the end of each record.
  • The identifiers clients look at first: CLIENT_ID, LAW_FIRM_ID, LAW_FIRM_MATTER_ID and CLIENT_MATTER_ID, present on every line and the same wherever they should be.
  • Dates written as YYYYMMDD, line dates inside the billing period, and a billing period that does not end before it starts.
  • Fee lines with a task code and an activity code and no expense code; expense lines with an expense code and neither of the others; every code in the right shape.
  • A timekeeper ID, name and classification on every fee line.
  • The arithmetic: units × unit cost + adjustment equals each line total, and the line totals equal the invoice total.
  • Characters outside plain ASCII, such as accented letters or curly quotes pasted from a word processor.

What it cannot check

A file can be perfectly formed and still be refused, because each client also applies its own billing guidelines: the timekeepers and rates it approved, the matter IDs in its own system, the code set it uses, rules on block billing and minimum increments, and expenses it will not reimburse. Those live in the client's e-billing system and in the guidelines it sent you, not in the format. Use this tool to make sure the file itself is not the reason for a rejection.

The rejections it catches most often

In practice, a handful of mistakes account for most bounced files: an invoice total that does not equal the sum of its lines, a fee line missing its activity code, an expense line that also carries a task code, a timekeeper with no ID or classification, and a client matter ID left blank. The LEDES 1998B guide explains each field and why clients check it.

Questions

No. The file is read and checked by your browser, on this page. Nothing is sent to ModusBill or to anyone else, which matters because a LEDES invoice describes privileged work for a client. Once the page has loaded, the validator works even with the internet disconnected.

The structure of a LEDES 1998B file: the LEDES1998B[] first line, the 24 field names in order, 24 fields on every line and the [] at the end of each. On every line it checks dates written as YYYYMMDD, numbers without symbols, the line type (F, E, IF or IE), the identifiers clients require (CLIENT_ID, LAW_FIRM_ID and both matter IDs), UTBMS task and activity codes on fee lines and expense codes on expense lines, the timekeeper ID and classification, units × unit cost + adjustment against the line total, and whether the line totals add up to the invoice total.

Because every client also applies its own billing guidelines, which no general validator can know: the timekeepers and rates it has approved, the exact matter IDs in its system, the task code set it uses, limits on block billing or minimum time increments, and expenses it will not pay. This tool tells you the file is well formed; the client's e-billing system decides whether the charges are acceptable.

No. It checks LEDES 1998B, the pipe-delimited format most corporate legal departments and insurers ask for. A 1998BI file (the international version, with tax and currency fields) is recognized and reported as such rather than checked.

The litigation task codes (L110 to L530), the activity codes (A101 to A111) and the expense codes (E101 to E124). A code from another practice-area set, such as bankruptcy or counseling, is accepted if it is well formed, with a warning to confirm it against the client's guidelines.

Related

See it against your own matters

Thirty minutes with someone who knows professional billing — not a slide deck. Bring a real invoice and we will show you how it comes out of ModusBill. Then take 30 days with it, free.

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