Legal Billing Glossary

Any billing structure other than traditional hourly billing, such as flat fees, capped fees, contingency, or success fees.

Legal protection that keeps confidential communications between an attorney and client from being disclosed.

Artificial intelligence applied to invoice review, spend analysis, anomaly detection, and billing compliance.

Grouping multiple legal tasks into a single time entry, making it impossible to verify how long each task actually took.

A single hourly rate applied to all timekeepers on a matter, regardless of their seniority or experience level.

Adherence to agreed-upon billing rules, rate agreements, and outside counsel guidelines by law firms.

The minimum time unit for recording billable work, typically six minutes (0.1 hour) or fifteen minutes (0.25 hour).

The specific billing rules within outside counsel guidelines that define acceptable invoicing practices.

Situations where a law firm's duties to one client may compromise its ability to fully represent another client.

Software for managing contracts from creation through negotiation, execution, compliance, and expiration or renewal.

Disputed invoice charges sent back to law firms for correction, credit, or write-off.

Policies governing how long legal documents, billing records, and case files are stored before being destroyed.

The formal agreement between a company and a law firm that establishes the scope, terms, and fees for legal representation.

Information barriers within a law firm to prevent conflicts of interest when representing clients with adverse interests.

Software platforms for managing the full lifecycle of legal invoicing, from submission through payment.

Systematic review of legal invoices to ensure compliance with billing guidelines and identify overcharges.

The Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard — the universal file format for submitting electronic legal invoices.

The electronic submission, review, approval, and payment of legal invoices through software platforms.

The selection and management process for choosing which law firms a company will regularly engage.

The business management function within a corporate legal department focused on efficiency, technology, and spend optimization.

Comprehensive oversight and optimization of all outside legal spending, from budgeting through payment.

Applying project management principles to legal work to improve predictability, efficiency, and cost control.

Delegating routine legal tasks to external providers, often offshore, to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

A directive to preserve all documents and data relevant to anticipated or active litigation.

Technology solutions designed specifically for the legal industry, from practice management to AI-powered review.

Estimated liabilities for legal services that have been provided but not yet invoiced by outside counsel.

Estimated total costs for a legal matter, established at the start of the engagement and tracked throughout.

Systems and processes for tracking, organizing, and managing legal matters across their full lifecycle.

Formal rules governing how outside law firms must bill, staff, and communicate when working for a company.

A curated list of pre-approved law firms that a company regularly engages for outside legal work.

Published schedules of approved hourly rates organized by timekeeper seniority level, practice area, and year.

Maximum hourly rates a company will pay, regardless of a timekeeper's seniority or the firm's standard rates.

The hourly rates charged by individual attorneys, paralegals, and other billing professionals at a law firm.

Billing organized by specific tasks or activities, using standardized codes, rather than just hours worked.

Standardized codes for classifying legal tasks and activities, enabling consistent categorization across firms and matters.