The LEDES (Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard) format is a standard file format used in the legal industry for the electronic exchange of information such as invoice data. It codifies a uniform data output from legal time-and-billing systems for export to electronic billing systems. The LEDES specifications are maintained by the LEDES Oversight Committee (LOC). By processing e-bills, companies save paper handling and processing costs. The LEDES format is basically used for conventional hourly billing but alternative billing arrangements are also handled. For example, in case of fixed-contract types, LEDES file can be prepared in various ways.
You can transfer your BQE CORE invoices easily to the LEDES 1998B and 2000 XML ebilling formats as a text file. This helps the law firms using CORE to output bills in a format acceptable by the entire legal industry. The LEDES feature takes you step-by-step toward the completion of the invoice transfer from the CORE database to the LEDES export database.
When exporting invoices from CORE in the LEDES format, the employee classification (or title) is also exported along with the other data. For the proper transfer of classification, the Title field in the Employees screen or the Classification field in the Time Entries screen must use one of the following titles for which a corresponding LEDES export code exists. When no title or classification exists in CORE, OT is used as a placeholder for the LEDES format.
| Code | Title |
| PT | Partner |
| AS | Associate |
| OC | Of Counsel |
| LA | Legal Assistant |
| OT | Other Timekeeper |
| SI | Summer Intern |
| PL | Paralegal |
| SE | Secretary or Clerk |
| NP | Non-Legal Professional |
This is provided for information only and must not be used by the receiving application as a primary key for the employee. Most expense items do not have a classification associated with them.
Note: This feature is only available for the legal industry type. Check CORE Help Center for details.
How To
Field Descriptions
| Field Name | Field Description |
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Settings > Billing & Invoices > LEDES > |
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LEDES Format |
As per the LEDES standards, there are various data exchange formats available such as ebilling and budgeting. CORE allows export of invoice data to the following ebilling formats:
See Invoices > LEDES Export for more. |
| This is the name of your CORE company and is required for exporting the invoice data. The name is inherited from the Company Profile screen, but you are allowed to provide a different name. | |
| Employer ID | Employer ID or Company ID is a number assigned to the company or firm. |
| Client Matter Options: Client ID |
When exporting invoices from CORE, you need to specify what the associated Client IDs are going to be in LEDES. To map the client, your options are:
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| Matter ID |
When exporting invoices from CORE, you need to specify what the associated Matter IDs (Project IDs) are going to be in LEDES. To map the matter, your options are:
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| Omit all occurrences of colons (:) | When you check this option, CORE removes all the instances of colons (:) from the IDs while exporting the invoices to LEDES. |
| Replace all occurrences of Client ID with the associated Matter ID | When you check this option, CORE replaces all the Client IDs with the Client Matter IDs, which are the IDs of matters (projects) in LEDES. |
| A-Code & L-Code Options |
The legal industry has a set of uniform task-based codes called Activity Codes (A-Codes) and Litigation Codes (L-Codes) that is used in coding time for billing purposes. When exporting invoices to LEDES, CORE needs to map the activity or service items with these codes.
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| Create custom A-Code and L-Code mapping for clients |
CORE gives you the flexibility to map your activity (service) and expense items (costs) with custom codes. While transferring invoice data to the LEDES format, CORE items are then replaced by these custom codes. Click Mappings Setup to create and manage custom A-Code and L-Code mappings for your clients.
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| Copy Mappings | You can set up custom mappings for the activity (service) and cost items (expense) for your clients. When creating custom codes for each activity and expense item, you can save those mappings and then choose to copy them to another client or client group. |
| Service and Cost Options: Exclude non-billable time and costs | CORE excludes all the non-billable time and costs (expense entries) from the invoice data for export to LEDES. |
| Export sales tax as a separate line item | When sending over invoices, this option allows you to send the item-level sales tax as a separate line item as opposed to be a part of the time and expense entries (costs) included in the invoice amount. |
| Sort time and cost details |
While exporting the CORE invoices, you can sort the time and cost (expense) details in a chronological order:
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| Invoice Options: Invoice Start and End Dates |
You can choose what the start and end dates of the invoices being exported to LEDES are:
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| Invoice Date |
You can choose what the invoice dates of the invoices being exported to LEDES are:
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| Timekeeper Settings: Use separator between timekeeper's first name and last name | You can specify the character to be used for separating the employee's first name from the last name. Example: If you specify colon (:) as a separator, then CORE generates John:Doe as the timekeeper's name instead of John Doe. |
| Timekeeper Name | You need to specify the naming combination for the LEDES timekeeper. By default, CORE generates First Name + Last Name combination for employee's name. However, you can override that and generate a Last Name + First Name combination. Example: Instead of 'John Doe', you can export 'Doe John' to the LEDES file. |
| Timekeeper ID |
You need to specify the ID convention for the LEDES timekeeper, which should be a unique identifier. You can either use the CORE Employee ID as is or the Timekeeper ID can be exported as the initials of the employee's first and last name instead of the full name. If there are two or more employees with the same initials, CORE exports all the records to your LEDES file. Example: Instead of John Doe, you will be exporting all instances of JD to your LEDES file. |
Set Up LEDES Export
You can set up all the LEDES export options in Settings first and then export the invoices to the LEDES format from the Invoices screen. CORE refers to these settings during the export process and prepares an export file that applies these rule for each invoice. This feature is only available for the legal industry type.
To set up the LEDES export options, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Settings > Billing & Invoices screen from the side menu.
- Click LEDES on the left panel.
- Select the LEDES format and enter the Company Name. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
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- LEDES 1998B
- LEDES 1998B1-v2
- LEDES 2000 XML
- For Client ID, you can use the client’s ID or custom field. Else, for Matter ID, use the matter’s ID or custom field. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- For A-Codes and L-Codes (Litigation Codes), you can choose one of the Activity options or create custom mappings for clients. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- Likewise, you can set different service, expense (cost), invoice, and timekeeper options or accept the default settings.
- When you are done, click Save.
Note: The client address and invoice tax currency is supposed to get exported to LEDES 1998 format in the tax line items.