Peer to Peer Magazine

inside iLTA Do You E-Bill? We Need Your Feedback! L ast year the LEDES Oversight Committee (LOC) was asked to participate in a cross-industry effort to revise the original ABA UTBMS Litigation Code Set. The goal is to improve the UTBMS codes to obtain better, more usable information: better reporting, more accurate forecasting and budgeting, and stronger analytics, all while reducing the amount of time and effort people have to spend reformatting data or filling-in information gaps. In short, the goal is to make the system more effective and easier to use. The project team includes a large group from throughout the industry who expressed interest in the project. Participants include representatives from law firms, law departments, vendors and consultants, many of whom participated in the effort to create the original ABA UTBMS Litigation Code Set. The LOC provided a team to participate, as did ILTA, to ensure the perspectives of both organizations were represented. Early in the process, project participants provided the following suggestions: • Devise a way to better track projects and deliverables, as opposed to just time spent; this would help in addressing the increasing number of requests for alternative fees. • Focus on “all in” structures, so that, for example, all efforts related to preparing for, taking and assessing a deposition could be folded into a single “deposition” code. • Consider eliminating the UTBMS Activity Codes, because they impose additional burdens, and it is not clear that most clients or law firms make productive use of them. • Make the codes easier to use for timekeepers, to reduce the number of instances where there are multiple well- intentioned ways to code the same work. • Develop an easy-to-use manual or reference guide to provide uniform guidance on how to use the codes most effectively. 100 www.iltanet.org Peer to Peer • Try to get the client population to achieve broader consensus around one uniform set of codes, to reduce the burdens of multiple customizations. • Collaborate across the entire industry, to get valuable input from all involved, both on the organizational level (clients, law firms, vendors, professional associations), and the individual level (lawyers, paralegals, managers, technologists and other professionals). Participants divided into teams, each tasked with reviewing a specific phase of the litigation code set, and worked independent of the other teams to consider possible changes. Some teams reached out to others within the industry for feedback as the work progressed to ensure the proposed changes were well-considered. The result has been compiled into a single document and posted to http://www.utbms.com. There is a link to a survey to collect feedback on the proposed changes, and the survey will remain open until September 7. Once the survey closes, the feedback to the survey will be reviewed and, based on the feedback received, could result in additional revision. The next steps really depend on the feedback received. We need your feedback! Please find time before the summer ends to review the proposed changes and tell us your thoughts. ILTA To learn more about the LEDES Oversight Committee, go to http://www.ledes.org. Jane Bennitt is a manager with Baker Robbins & Company and has been president of the LEDES Oversight Committee for the last three years. With almost 15 years of experience in the industry, she is a subject matter expert in the creation and deployment of collaborative case management and e-billing solutions, specializing in global e-billing. Jane led the 2008 ILTA E-Billing Survey effort and the resulting White Paper.

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