Happy 30th Birthday Legal Ebilling

Posted on by in General

The legal ebilling industry was born on November 28, 1994, when I started as the first employee at what later became known as TyMetrix.

TyMetrix founder Bob Heinemann and an insurance GC believed that legal invoices contained information that was impossible to distill because of how it was presented, leading to little understanding of the services provided by outside counsel. They believed there had to be a better way, and I was hired to help turn the idea into a business.

We viewed ebilling as more than just a pipe to receive and pay invoices. We believed that combining billing data with matter information would create rich reports to provide insight into how different approaches to handling a matter can result in different outcomes.

Bob fostered a collaborative environment and our early team members (Steve Zielinski, Nancy Doyle, Scott Holliday and Frank Mikulak, among others) were key to our success. I am enormously proud of the decisions we made with the product in those early days: we created functionality that is foundational to legal ebilling today.

So happy 30th birthday legal ebilling, and my thanks to all who contributed to moving the industry ahead over the last 30 years.

 

New Products in Legal Ebilling

Posted on by in EBMM, Innovation, New Product

At ILTACon 2024, I found some new products available with functionality for different purposes in legal ebilling.

Hercules AI is offering a new product called Verify that is designed to assist with Outside Counsel Compliance. So slick. Very next generation. It knocked my socks off, and I sent 6 people over to look at the product. You can learn more here: https://hercules.ai/verify/.

The week prior to the conference I received a Google Alert mentioning FulcrumGT’s Salvo product. No one on the LEDES Board had heard of it, and it was the one product that I was in search of more information on as I headed to the conference. Salvo is a new entrant in the Ebilling Administration tool market, competing against Elite eBillingHub and Aderant BillBlast. This market has long been in need of additional products, and now one exists. Interestingly, they state, “The solution can provide real-time updates across all vendor sites” which I think is a differentiator. You can learn more here: https://legacysite.fulcrumgt.com/products/salvo/.

FulcrumGT also is offering a collaborative ELM system called RapidX. It is worthy of a look from any law department or insurance organization wanting to implement legal ebilling or to change vendor systems.  The system is similarly available to law firms that would like to better collaborate with non-ebilling clients. You can learn more here: https://fulcrumgt.com/.

Finally, I wanted to mention seeing Oddr’s Invoice to Cash Platform.  I have seen this product at a couple shows now, and still am struck by their creative solution for invoice/collections/payments.  I am not aware of any other product aimed at this particular segment of the “problem” with legal ebilling.  It is not unexpected that they are picking up traction in the marketplace.  To learn more:  https://www.oddr.com/.

LEDES Educational Session at ILTACon

Posted on by in ILTACon

I am just back from ITLACon where Inemesit Edet and I gave a presentation entitled “Frustrated with Legal Ebilling? Let’s Do Something About It.”

We started by providing some background on the LEDES ebilling formats and information that is available on the www.LEDES.org web site. Then came the time for the discussion. As I opened the floor up to the session participants, asking for information on their issues … nothing. Crickets. (This is so typical of US meetings. People are so reluctant to speak up.) But Inemesit and I came prepared for just this situation. We had created lists of questions that we are often asked or issues that people need help with relative to legal ebilling. So we just started talking. Inemesit asked the questions, and I began to answer. As soon as I took a breath, Inemesit chimed in with more information. It was like a ping pong match! And absolutely wonderful. We both provided relevant, real life examples that helped to illustrate the issues and respond to the questions.

Once the session completed, we had about 10 people approach us to say how informative they found the session to be and how well we worked as a team in presenting. A handful more stopped by the LEDES booth to tell us about how they enjoyed the session.

If you would like a copy of the presentation, please use the Contact GLE feature in the menu.

By the way, this is the first time I have met Inemesit in person; she is new to the LEDES Board in 2024. I really enjoyed the opportunity to present with her. She is so smart!

LegalOps.com’s RLLB Conference

Posted on by in GLE On the Road

GLE founder Jane Bennitt will be attending LegalOps.com Running Legal Like a Business Conference in Las Vegas NV, 3-6 September 2024. Jane will be manning the LEDES Oversight Committee booth, and will be moderating an IP track session on September 4th at 11:00 AM entitled “IP Legal Spend Management: What Legal Operations Needs to Know.” Speaking with Jane on this topic will be Preston Heard (Womble Bond Dickinson), Carl Bowers (Lyft), Phil Henderson (Prokurio), and Subroto Bose (AsteraLabs).

This is Jane’s first time at RLLB and she is very excited about their new 9-session IP track. RLLB is the first major, general legal conference to include an IP track. Kudos to LegalOps.com!!!

LEDES API Effort

Posted on by in LEDES API Project

It was about six years ago when Nick Puschak, then the Standards Director for the LEDES Oversight Committee, suggested that the organization create an API. The Board agreed that something was needed to create a more efficient legal ebilling process for law firms and to help manage the volume of tasks that need to be completed in the monthly billing cycle.

The first version of the API, created with Nick leading the effort, was ratified and released to the public in 2020 and, shortly thereafter, the subcommittee began working on version 2 of the standard again under Nick’s leadership.

It should be noted that LEDES does not have paid employees. All of our standards efforts are led by volunteers who donate their time.  Our subcommittee efforts are often delayed due to competing priorities related to our volunteers’ day jobs.  Nick’s retirement in 2022 also presented an additional hurdle with completing the standard.

Fortunately the LOC identified another volunteer to assume the role of Subcommittee Chair, Sherry Askin. We reestablished the subcommittee, reviewed the work completed under Nick’s leadership, and then considered other functionality which needed to be included in this release. By late summer, 2023, the documentation was finalized and a Public Comment survey was established to collect feedback on the standard from the legal community. Once the Public Comment period ended, the final documents needed another look.

Still to do: in January we will submit the final documents to the LEDES Standards Director for review, then to the LEDES Board for ratification.

So what is in API v2 Functionality?

  • It changes the names of some common terms in legal ebilling (Client is now Business, Law Firm is now Vendor), in recognition that there are multiple types of entities that could be filling these roles.   
  • It is intended to facilitate system-to-system transmission of information between the vendor (f/k/a law firm) users and the business (f/k/a Client) systems they are required to use. 
  • While the API supports the transmission of the LEDES 98B, 98BI, XML Ebilling 2.0x, 2.1x and 2.2x formats.  LEDES 2000, officially dropped from support by the LEDES organization in 2022, is not supported.
  • The API also establishes a JSON ebilling format that includes each of the data elements found in LEDES 98BI and XML 2.2x but is structured differently than either of these formats.
    • It is intended that the JSON invoice will be machine generated and not manually edited.
    • It is intended that the JASON invoice will only be utilized by the API and not by vendors submitting invoices via other means.  
  • The API supports the following objects and functions:*
Object Function
Business Send Business information
Business Get Businesses
Business Get Business Information
Vendor Send Vendor information
Vendor Get Vendors
Vendor Get Vendor Information
Location Send Location
Location Get Location information
Matter Send Business Matter Info
Matter Get Matters
Matter Get Matter Information
Timekeeper Send Timekeeper Info
Timekeeper Get Timekeeper Info
Timekeeper Send Timekeeper Rates
Timekeeper Get Timekeeper Rates
Timekeeper Send Proposed Timekeeper Rate Status
Timekeeper Get Proposed Timekeeper Rate Status
Invoice Automation Send Invoice (LEDES JSON)
Invoice Automation Get Invoices (LEDES JSON)
Invoice Automation Get Invoice (LEDES JSON)
Invoice Automation Resubmit invoice
Invoice Automation Appeal Invoice
Invoice Automation Adjust Invoice
Invoice Automation Send Invoice Attachment
Invoice Automation Get Invoice Attachments
Invoice Automation Get Attachment with information
Invoice Automation Send the status of an invoice
Invoice Automation Get the status of an invoice
Invoice Automation Get invoice status changes
Invoice Automation Invoice Payment
Invoice Automation Invoice Payment
Invoice Automation Delete Invoice
Invoice LEDES File Send Invoice LEDES file
Invoice LEDES File Send Invoice LEDES file Accrual
Invoice LEDES File Send Invoice LEDES file Shadow
Invoice LEDES File Send Invoice LEDES file Resubmit
Invoice LEDES File Send Invoice LEDES file Appeal
Invoice LEDES File Send Invoice LEDES file Replace
Invoice LEDES File Send Invoice Attachment
Invoice LEDES File Get Invoice Attachment
Invoice LEDES File Send the Status of an Invoice (LEDES file based)
Invoice LEDES File Get the Status of an Invoice (LEDES file based)
Invoice LEDES File Get Invoice Status Changes
Invoice LEDES File Invoice Payment
Invoice LEDES File Invoice Payment
Invoice LEDES File Delete Invoice

*Information from LEDES.org

We are very excited about the potential of the API and the impact it can have on law firm efficiency.   However, it needs to be developed and released before any impact will be felt.

The only way this happens is for vendors to embrace the API and make it part of their system functionality.  Here’s what I have seen:  the law firm system vendors (back-office financial and time and billing systems that already create LEDES invoice files) are eager to provide the API to their users.  The reception by the third-party ebilling vendors has been much more lukewarm, with an undertone of “what’s in it for us?”  So if you feel this functionality is important, particularly if you are a Business/Client that requires legal ebilling, please reach out to your ebilling vendor to discuss their plans to add the API.  

Look for more information on the API on www.LEDES.org.

New Ebilling Admin Tool Available

Posted on by in LF EB Administration Tool, New Product

I saw in my feed today that there is a new ebilling administration product available called BillSync by ScanLogic. They call it “the first ebilling platform to be launched in 20 years based on new technologies.” The platform is “designed to aggregate all ebilling data across multiple platforms and vendors” and their press release goes on to refer to it as “a solution to aggregating all billing data where others cannot.” I have not yet seen the product and am curious whether their technology really does access the dozens of ebilling platforms in the legal industry that law firms are required to use. If it truly lives up to this promise, then this is indeed a powerful solution.
Readers should investigate for themselves here. 

ILTA Summer Conference, August 2023

Posted on by in ILTACon, LEDES API Project

The LEDES Oversight Committee is exhibiting again this year at ILTACon, look for us at booth #2005.
In addition, I will be speaking at a session on Monday Aug. 21st at 11:00 in Southern Hemisphere IV Ballroom for the LOC entitled “The Future of Legal Ebilling.” We are using the opportunity to discuss the LEDES API, version 2 of which is very close to posting for public comment and then ratification, as well as the testing platform that LOC is putting in place for 5 years to test API connections from Law Firm systems (sending invoices and other collateral, providing info (like rates), requesting information (like rate approval status), etc.) and from the ebilling vendor systems (to receive invoice files and other supported information, to reply back with information requested, or to acknowledge receipt information uploaded to their system).
As soon as this version of the API is ratified, our attention will turn to completing the API test platform, which we are offering to test the API connections made by both law firm systems and ebilling vendor systems. The platform will be available for a period of five years at significant cost to the organization. Our intention is to see that the API is developed as we intend, and operationally standard across vendor systems.
Imagine, a standard that is actually standard!
Lots going on that really could change legal ebilling as we know it today. If you can’t join us at the session, stop by our booth. And if you’re not at the conference, consider joining the LOC to support our financial commitment to this project. Membership is only $95 per year.

LEDES API

Posted on by in LEDES API Project

I am part of a very small team that is finalizing version 2 of the LEDES API.  Led by Sherry Askin and Robert Kraai, the rest of the team includes Jim Hannigan and me.

Background

The idea for creating an API was the suggestion of Nicholas Puschak, a member of the LEDES Board of Directors, in 2018.  He envisioned a process that would facilitate system to system transmission of ebilling and other data required by law departments and other legal organizations that mandate their legal vendors to ebill.  The original idea was that API should allow law firm time and billing applications to communicate directly with the corporate legal department matter management and ebilling systems which would, in turn, allow law firm billing clerks to simply work within their time and billing applications to view the status of an invoice and to submit invoice, accruals and other legal data from within a single application without needing manual processing.  Nick led the effort working with a diverse group of subcommittee volunteers.  In February, 2020 version 1 of the API was released by the LOC. 

That we know of, only one law firm system, BILR by LSG, has implemented v.1 of the API; no ebilling vendors have implemented the standard.

Work on v.2 of the standard began organizing in June, 2020 again under the leadership of Nick Puschak.  The mandate was to look at issues noted in the original version and expand the functionality of the API.  Sadly, Nick’s retirement required a change in leadership and beginning in March 2023, new Co-Chairs were identified:  Sherry Askin and Robert Kraai, and a much smaller group has been meeting to work on the v.2 functionality 3 times a week since March, usually for 6-12 hours per week.

Like API v.1, API v.2 utilizes JSON, an open standard file and data exchange format. 

API v.2

API v.2 changes the name of some objects traditional to legal ebilling (business not client; vendor not law firm), reimagines the legal ebilling invoice structure (it is not visibly a relational database structure, instead it uses machine logic), and includes an automated JSON invoice format.

The updated draft v.2 specification includes the following functionality:

  • The ability for businesses to provide their information; for vendors to get information on all businesses within the system that require them to ebill; and for vendors to get information on a specific business requiring them to ebill.
  • The ability for vendors to provide their information; the ability for businesses to get information on vendors they require to ebill; and to get information on a specific vendor.
  • The ability to send or get location information.
  • The ability for businesses to send limited matter information; for vendors to get a list of matters assigned to their firm; and for vendors to get information on a specific matter.
  • The ability for vendors to send timekeeper profile information and to request profile information for a specific timekeeper.
  • The ability for vendors to send timekeeper rate information and to request rate information, including the status of rate approval, for a specific timekeeper.
  • For LEDES Invoice files, the ability to send an invoice, accrual or shadow invoice; the ability for the vendor to resubmit or replace an invoice; the ability of the vendor to send or get an invoice attachment; the ability of the business to send and for a vendor to get the status of an invoice; the ability of the business to send and for a vendor to get payment information; and the ability of a vendor to delete an invoice that has not yet been reviewed by the business. 
  • A new JSON ebilling format for use only by the API that includes the following functionality: the ability of the vendor to submit an automated invoice, to get id information on invoices sent and the ability of the vendor to query the status of a specific invoice; the ability of the vendor to resubmit an invoice; the ability of the vendor to appeal an invoice; the ability of the business to provide adjustment information on an invoice; the ability for the vendor to send an invoice attachment, for the vendor get an a list of invoice attachments, or for the vendor to get a specific invoice attachment; the ability of the business to send the invoice status, for the vendor to get a list of invoice statuses or for the vendor to get information on a specific invoice status; the ability for the business to send and the vendor to get invoice payment information; and the ability of the vendor to delete an invoice that has not yet been reviewed by the business.

We will be discussing the API in an educational session at ILTACon in August.  Check back for more information on the ILTA session, and the next steps toward ratification of the standard.