April 25, 2005
LEDES: Electronic Billing Standards
In March 2005, the International Legal Technology Association, ILTA, published a white paper on “Accounting in the Electronic Age”. In it, Jeff Hodge wrote, “LEDES (Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard) has been the de facto format for moving legal invoices from law firms to corporations worldwide since its introduction in 1998. This ASCII-based file format has been embraced by law firm’s time and billing system vendors, corporate matter management vendors and e-billing and spend management vendors serving corporations, firms and others. Some estimates show that more than 90 percent of the legal invoices moving electronically today move in the original LEDES 98B ASCII version of the standard.” Jeff should know. He was one of the key Price Waterhouse figures who, along with legal software vendors, created the original standard. Today, Jeff’s leadership abilities are devoted to DataCert, Inc.
Jeff notes that LEDES is going through a makeover from ASCII to the more flexible XML format. As Jeff noted, it is just a “matter of time” before the XML standard replaces the LEDES 98B standard. The migration will be driven by the law firm’s corporate clients.
Why is this important? The firm needs the ability to meet the XML requirements when the firm’s corporate clients demand it. And, in fact, firms with the XML ability can use it as a competitive advantage if your firm can offer it before the competition.
If you don’t already have the LEDES XML feature in your business software, ask your business system, or time and billing vendor, about their plans for the LEDES XML standard.
It is only a matter of time!
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Filed under Blog by Tom Collins