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Glossary

LEDES billing

For firms billing corporate or insurance clients who require electronic invoices in a standard format.

LEDES (Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard) is a standardized file format for legal invoices, built so a client's e-billing system can ingest and audit line items automatically instead of a person reading a PDF.

Why it matters for a solo or small firm

A solo who picks up one corporate or insurance-defense client can suddenly be required to submit LEDES-formatted invoices, and most billing software doesn't export it by default. Getting rejected by the e-billing gateway delays payment by weeks, not days.

Example

You send a normal PDF invoice to an insurance defense client. Their e-billing system bounces it because it can't parse task codes — every line item needs reformatting into LEDES 1998B before it's accepted.