Category: LEDES Oversight Committee

Pertaining to the LEDES Oversight Committee, the global organization that sets the standards for legal electronic data exchange

XML Ebilling Format Updates

Posted on by in Ebilling Standards, LEDES Oversight Committee

Earlier this year, the LEDES Oversight Committee proposed revisions to the LEDES XML 2.0x, 2.1x and 2.2 ebilling standards. The public comment period for these changes closed on July 25, 2022 and there were no objections to the proposed changes.

While preparing the final paperwork to ratify these changes, additional discussion occurred on deficiencies that need correction in the XML formats. The documents presented here reflect these additional requested changes.

A new public comment period has opened and will close on December 9, 2022.

Significant to these changes are a number of requests by global ebillers to address insufficiencies in the current formats and processes. In particular, a change has been proposed that will require vendors to change the data element used for rate validation and require updating client electronic validation routines. While we have tried to minimize the number of changes required, this fundamentally changes how rate checking operates and represents a big effort on the part of vendors to enact.

Additionally, The LEDES Oversight Committee has scheduled 3 webinars on the proposed changes for which registration is required:

To attend the law firm-oriented webinar, scheduled on Wednesday, 7 December 2022 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, register here.
To attend the law department-oriented webinar, scheduled on Wednesday, 7 December 2022 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern, register here.
To attend the vendor-oriented webinar, scheduled 7 December 2022 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, register here.

To review the proposed changes or provide your opinion on the changes, click here.  

Proposed LEDES Standards for Public Comment

Posted on by in LEDES Oversight Committee, UTBMS

The LEDES Oversight Committee has two projects that have provided draft standards for public comment:

The first is from the Ebilling Standards subcommittee, which proposes updates to Ebilling XML 2.0x, 2.1x and 2.2x.  The changes are to correct an inadequate field length, add one field and align the standards.  You can learn more about the proposed changes and provide feedback to the LOC here.  

In addition, the IP subcommittee has proposed UTBMS codes specifically for Patent Prosecution matters.  This is a really interesting take on using UTBMS, allowing for codes that pair with the USPTO.    You can learn more about the proposed changes and provide feedback to the LOC here.  

The public comment period closes for both projects on July 25, 2022.

LEDES Ebilling Format Changes

Posted on by in EBMM, LEDES Oversight Committee

I have been leading the Tax Accommodation Subcommittee for the LEDES Oversight Committee for the last year, spearheading changes to the global ebilling formats for two projects:
Project 1: Accommodating a greater number of cursor columns to the right of the decimal separator for the tax rate only. These proposed changes impact LEDES 98BI and XML Ebilling 2.0 and 2.1.
Project 2: New functionality to accommodate Tiered Taxes. The changes required are extensive and result in the creation of LEDES XML Ebilling 2.2. The proposed solution adds 2 new segments and 13 data elements to the file and significantly changes the invoice math statement.
You can access the proposed changes and feedback survey through https://ledes.org/proposed-standards-requiring-public-comment/, which page includes a link for providing public feedback on the proposed standards. The public comment period will remain open until 8 September, 2019.

LOC Survey to Support Disrupting EB Status Quo Campaign

Posted on by in LEDES Oversight Committee

The LEDES Oversight Committee has launched a survey to identify ebilling issues as part of our “Disrupting the Ebilling Status Quo” campaign started last August. Our plan is to identify issues that can be “fixed” by the LOC. Follow-up may include: offering training programs; possibly retiring or updating existing standards or creating new standards; and writing about best practices and best of breed features to create demand for better solutions. For more information on the survey and our Disrupting the Ebilling Status Quo campaign, please go to www.LEDES.org.

It’s LegalTech Time Again

Posted on by in GLE On the Road, LEDES Oversight Committee

It’s time again for Legal Tech, this year January 31st through February 2nd at the New York Hilton.  GLE will again be at the show, with Jane A. Bennitt scheduled to host the LEDES Oversight Committee annual member’s meeting that Tuesday morning at 9:00.

The show either is being rebranded or is affiliating with the name LegalWeek, which will be difficult for most of us veterans who have attended since the beginning of the conference to commit to memory.

See you at the conference!

Disrupting Ebilling Status Quo

Posted on by in LEDES Oversight Committee

Over the years I have had hundreds of conversations with people on issues with electronic billing.  As President of the LEDES Oversight Committee, a standards organization, I have been at a loss on how to respond to the suggestion that the LOC should force compliance with standards.  In these conversations the third party ebilling vendors often are portrayed as the villain, but I know they agree that using un-customized standards is preferable.  Yet I understand how difficult it is for law firms required to ebill to juggle all of the crazy custom requirements against workflow and the limited window during which invoices can be submitted.

In one Monday ILTA session it was stated that the LOC needs to (1) work towards making all ebilling standards available in all third party vendor systems, and (2) sway public opinion against customization.

I believe I’ve reached a tipping point in this discussion.

At the mid-year LEDES Oversight Committee members meeting, I declared that it is time to disrupt the ebilling status quo.

The LOC Board of Directors will establish a framework to gather information on the “issues” and we will then form groups to address as many of these that we can.   We need volunteers on several levels.

  • To create a survey and evaluate the issues articulated
  • To brainstorm on solutions to fix these issues and, where appropriate, create subcommittees to update or create new standards
  • To  flood legal publications with articles about how customization has made ebilling unmanageable
  • To organize an effort to create demand to get vendors to accept all of the LEDES standards

Actually, we already have started.  One current initiative is to standardize the error messages returned by the third party systems so that users understand the error and how to correct it, as well as to create a format for the download of this type of information from the system to the party submitting ebills.  Another initiative is investigating how the various systems handle taxes and rounding issues and, once this is understood, will consider alternatives to standardize the process.

This initiative is open to members of the LEDES Oversight Committee.  If you are willing to participate in disrupting the status quo, Contact the LOC to volunteer.  If you’re not already a member, join the LOC.  At $95/year, it is the best association value in legal!

 

GLE Founder to Speak at ILTACon 2016

Posted on by in GLE On the Road, ILTACon, LEDES Oversight Committee

Global Legal Ebilling founder Jane A. Bennitt will be at the ILTA Educational Conference at the end of August and will chair two session on Thursday September 1st:  the LEDES Oversight Committee Members Meeting, which will be held from 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m., and Why UTBMS Codes Aren’t a Waste of Time:  A Panel Discussion, which will be held from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.  We look forward to seeing you at ILTACon!