Setting Up E-Billing / LEDES Billing

In this article

• Setting Up LEDES Billing (Admin)
• Assigning LEDES Timekeepers (Admin)
• Setting Up LEDES Billing for a Specific Matter

LEDES is a standardized format used for electronic legal billing. LEDES (or Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard) ensures uniformity in how firms exchange billing data. It aids in standardizing invoice formatting and helps improve transparency, which can help reduce billing disputes. 

When using LEDES billing formats, your time records are categorized based on the following:

• The task being done
• The type of activity
• The timekeeper recording the activity

Once you've enabled LEDES billing, you can create and provide the appropriate billing file to your clients, which they can then upload to their own system to analyze the bill based on the provided codes.

Only a small subset of clients will require e-billing, and for those that do, you can customize how their individual matters will utilize e-billing. 

Setting Up LEDES Billing (Admin)

An admin user can configure the default values for your LEDES codes at a global level. LEDES billing (also known as UTBMS) is where the items in a bill are assigned to a pre-set list of tasks based on the activity, what it is for, and who is doing it. This system is a requirement for some clients who use this method to compare the amounts they are billed from multiple lawyers.

To do this:

1. In Actionstep, go to Admin > Billing. The Billing page appears.
2. In the LEDES Defaults section, review and (where needed) update the default information that will be transmitted for your LEDES billing.
   
3. Optionally, to edit timekeeper codes (for example, expense codes or timekeeper classification), click Edit UTBMS codes and make your changes.
4. Click Save when you are finished.

Assigning LEDES Timekeepers (Admin)

An admin user can also assign an e-billing timekeeper code to system users.

To do this:

1. In Actionstep, go to Admin > Users & permissions. The Users & Permissions page appears.
2. Click Edit next to the user you want to add a timekeeper code to.
3. In the User preferences section, click E-billing timekeeper code and choose the code you want associated with the user.
   
4. Click Save when you are finished. 

Setting Up LEDES Billing for a Specific Matter

You can enable and set up LEDES billing for an individual matter. 

To do this:

1. In Actionstep, view the matter you want to set up e-billing for. (See Editing a Matter for help.)
2. Click the Billing menu icon. The Billing page appears.
3. Click Matter billing options on the left side of the page. The Matter Billing Options page appears.
4. In the E-Billing section, toggle Enable to on. This enables e-billing for this specific matter.
5.  Review the options that appear and make any customizations, if needed. (You can click the tooltip next to each option to learn more about it.)
6. Click Save to save your changes. 

Once you've enabled LEDES billing for a matter, when you create a bill, you will see the file available in the matter on the Invoices page:

Additionally, when viewing the Billing > Mass Billing or Billing > Draft Bills pages, you'll see the appropriate columns for e-billing/LEDES:

Related Articles:

• Invoice Templates
• About Actionstep Billing