Your carrier clients require LEDES files. Your firm runs on Macs. TimeNet Law generates LEDES 1998B invoices with full UTBMS coding and validates every field before the file reaches their portal.
The standard behind every e-billing portal.
LEDES stands for Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard. It is the format insurance carriers and corporate legal departments require for electronic legal invoices. Instead of a PDF a human reads, a LEDES file is structured plain text a computer reads. Every line item carries the same fields: dates, timekeeper, rate, hours, task code, description. That structure lets the client's e-billing system validate, audit, and pay thousands of invoices automatically.
LEDES 1998B, often written LEDES 98B, is the version that matters. Released in 1998, it remains the ubiquitous default. It is a pipe-delimited text file: 24 fields per line item, separated by the | character, one line per fee or expense entry. When a client says "we need LEDES" without naming a version, they almost always mean 1998B.
LEDES1998B[] INVOICE_DATE|INVOICE_NUMBER|CLIENT_ID|LAW_FIRM_MATTER_ID|INVOICE_TOTAL|BILLING_START_DATE|BILLING_END_DATE|INVOICE_DESCRIPTION|LINE_ITEM_NUMBER|EXP/FEE/INV_ADJ_TYPE|LINE_ITEM_NUMBER_OF_UNITS|LINE_ITEM_ADJUSTMENT_AMOUNT|LINE_ITEM_TOTAL|LINE_ITEM_DATE|LINE_ITEM_TASK_CODE|LINE_ITEM_EXPENSE_CODE|LINE_ITEM_ACTIVITY_CODE|TIMEKEEPER_ID|LINE_ITEM_DESCRIPTION|LAW_FIRM_ID|LINE_ITEM_UNIT_COST|TIMEKEEPER_NAME|TIMEKEEPER_CLASSIFICATION|CLIENT_MATTER_ID[] 20260630|2026-0142|INS001|DOE-4821|1250.00|20260601|20260630|June services|1|F|2.50|0|625.00|20260603|L120||A104|TK001|Analysis of coverage issues re policy exclusions|XX1234567|250.00|Smith, Jane|PARTNER|ABC-00412[]
A header identifies the format. A field row names all 24 columns. Then every fee and expense on the invoice becomes one pipe-delimited line. Simple to describe. Unforgiving in practice: one malformed date, one missing code, one stray delimiter, and the client's validator rejects the whole invoice.
LEDES defines the file. UTBMS, the Uniform Task-Based Management System, defines the codes inside it. Developed in the 1990s by the American Bar Association together with corporate counsel and accounting groups, UTBMS assigns a standard code to every kind of legal work so clients can compare and audit bills across firms. Three code families do most of the work:
What phase of the case the work belongs to. L110 Fact Investigation. L120 Analysis and Strategy. L330 Depositions. Every fee line on a litigation invoice carries one.
What the timekeeper actually did. A101 Plan and Prepare. A102 Research. A104 Review and Analyze. Paired with the task code on each fee entry.
Standardized expense categories. E101 Copying. E107 Delivery Services. E112 Court Fees. Expense lines carry an E code instead of task and activity codes.
If you bill carriers or corporate clients, this is not optional.
Insurance carriers are the biggest driver. If your firm does insurance defense work, the carrier's billing guidelines almost certainly require LEDES 1998B invoices submitted through their e-billing platform, coded to UTBMS, and compliant with their line-item rules.
Corporate legal departments are the other. Companies that manage outside counsel through e-billing systems such as Legal Tracker, TyMetrix 360, CounselLink, or Onit require LEDES files so every invoice can be validated and audited before anyone approves payment.
In both cases the pattern is the same: a machine reads your invoice before a human does. Which means the machine can also reject it.
E-billing validators are strict by design. A formatting error, an invalid code, or a field that violates the client's billing guidelines and the invoice is rejected before any person sees it.
A rejected invoice goes back to your billing staff to diagnose, fix, and resubmit. Payment terms typically restart from the resubmission date, not the original one.
Every rejection cycle adds weeks to collection. Work you finished last quarter becomes cash you see next quarter. Multiply that across every carrier matter and it becomes a real receivables problem.
Carriers and corporate clients grade their panel firms. Firms that submit clean, compliant invoices look professional. Firms that generate rejection noise give the client a reason to send the next case elsewhere.
Bill the way you always do. TimeNet Law handles the format.
Some clients want a beautiful PDF. Some carriers want LEDES 1998B. In TimeNet Law that is a per-matter setting, not a separate workflow. Switch the matter to LEDES and TimeNet Law bills with ABA task codes and validates every field before the file reaches their portal.
LEDES is set matter by matter. Your carrier matters bill in LEDES 98B. Your hourly and flat-fee matters keep their invoices exactly as they are. One system, both worlds.
Task and activity coding is built into time entry on LEDES matters, so your LEDES-formatted time entries carry the codes the client's guidelines demand.
The ABA code sets are included. Pick the right code from the list instead of maintaining your own lookup sheet or memorizing the UTBMS manual.
TimeNet Law validates every field before submission so your files are not rejected by the client's e-billing portal. Problems get caught on your Mac, not in their validator.
LEDES is one piece of a complete billing system: time capture, invoicing, trust accounting, payments, and reporting, all in one app. See the full feature list, or browse the tutorials to watch the billing workflow itself.
Most LEDES tooling assumes Windows. The legacy billing systems that insurance defense firms inherit are Windows software, and the usual advice for a Mac office is to run them in a virtual machine or settle for a browser tab. Neither feels like the computer you actually bought.
TimeNet Law is native macOS. Not a port, not an Electron wrapper, not a cloud app pretending. It is legal billing software built for the Mac from the first line of code, and LEDES 98B e-billing is built into it. Your firm gets the software your carrier clients require without giving up the platform your firm chose.
And because TimeNet Law runs on your Mac, your client data stays on your Mac. No cloud vendor sits between you and your billing.
A LEDES file is a legal invoice in the Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard format. It is a plain-text file where every line item carries the same structured fields: dates, timekeeper, rate, hours, task code, and description. Insurance carriers and corporate legal departments require LEDES files so their e-billing systems can read, validate, and audit legal bills automatically.
LEDES 1998B, often written LEDES 98B, is the most widely used version of the LEDES standard. It is a pipe-delimited text format with 24 fields per line item, released in 1998 and still the default format most e-billing systems require today. If a client asks for LEDES without naming a version, they almost always mean 1998B.
Yes. TimeNet Law supports LEDES 98B with full UTBMS task and activity coding and complete ABA code sets, and it validates every field before submission so your files are not rejected by the client's e-billing portal. LEDES is a per-matter toggle, so hourly and flat-fee matters bill normally alongside your e-billing matters.
Technically no, a LEDES file is plain text. Practically yes. Hand-built files and spreadsheet exports fail e-billing validators over small details: a stray delimiter, a date format, a missing task code. Billing software that generates the format from your actual time entries and validates every field first is the reliable way to get invoices accepted.
Yes. TimeNet Law is native macOS legal billing software with LEDES 98B e-billing built in. Most LEDES tooling assumes Windows. TimeNet Law runs on your Mac, generates LEDES files from your normal time entries, and validates them before they reach the client's portal. See legal billing software for Mac for the full picture.
LEDES is a per-matter setting. Switch the matter to LEDES and TimeNet Law bills with ABA task codes and validates every field before the file reaches the client's portal. The rest of your matters keep billing exactly as they always have. Download the free trial and try it on a real matter.
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