Uniform Task-Based Management System

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The Uniform Task-Based Management System (UTBMS) is a set of codes designed to standardize categorization and facilitate the analysis of legal work and expenses. UTBMS was produced through a collaborative effort among the American Bar Association Section of Litigation, the American Corporate Counsel Association, and a group of major corporate clients and law firms coordinated and supported by Price Waterhouse LLP (now PricewaterhouseCoopers). UTBMS codes are now maintained and developed by the Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard (LEDES) Oversight Committee.

Contents

Background

UTBMS coding is reflected in legal bills sent from a law firm to its corporate clients. [1] Law firms will usually use coding on time and expenses only for those clients who explicitly request it. Most clients who use UTBMS also require electronic billing, usually with an invoice in a LEDES e-billing format.

Fees, which are attorney and legal assistant time charges, are coded with task and activity codes. There are five sets of task codes: Litigation, Intellectual Property, Counseling, Project and Bankruptcy. The set used for a given matter (i.e., case or transaction) depends upon the nature of that matter. Tasks may be summarized into phases. Tasks are often reported without reporting the phase, as this can be deduced from the task. The phase/task hierarchy is uniform in the Litigation, Intellectual Property and Bankruptcy task code sets. In the Project set, only the second phase contains multiple tasks. The Counseling set has only a single level. (In such situations, a code may be considered both a phase and a task, and it may be necessary to program the time and billing software this way.) There is a single set of activity codes, which is used in conjunction with each of the four task code sets. There is also a single set of expense codes, which are independent of phase, task and activity codes.

The codes themselves are composed of a letter (the first letter of the task code set), followed by a three-digit number. Tasks sharing the same letter and first digit belong to the same phase.

From time-to-time, the LEDES Oversight Committee (LOC), the administrative body that oversees these codes, adds and changes codes. In 2007, a set of Intellectual Property codes (for patents and trademarks) were finalized and ratified. [2] In 2011, a set of "eDiscovery" codes were ratified. [3] [4] In 2015, the LOC ratified a set of Governance, Risk and Compliance codes based on the Open Compliance & Ethics Group (OCEG) GRC Capability Model.

Lists of the Codes

[5]

Litigation Code Set

eDiscovery Code Set

Counseling Code Set

Project Code Set

Bankruptcy Code Set

Patent Code Set

Trademark Code Set

[6]

Activity Codes

In late 2013, the Activity Code set was updated and ratified.

Expense Codes

In late 2013, the Expense Code set was reworked and ratified.

Civil Litigation J-Code Set (England & Wales)

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References

  1. Uniform Task-Based Management System, American Bar Association, retrieved 27 Feb 2016, The Uniform Task-Based Management System enables lawyers to budget and bill by litigation task, aiding client and counsel in understanding, managing and conducting litigations.
  2. "News" (Press release).
  3. Roach, Michael (20 Sep 2012), "LEDES Adds Activity, Expense to E-Discovery Billing Codes", EDD Update, ALM, retrieved 27 Feb 2016
  4. UTBMS eDiscovery Code Set, EDRM, retrieved 27 Feb 2016, The LEDES Oversight Committee (LOC) Uniform Task Based Management System (UTBMS) eDiscovery Code Set, ratified in 2011, is based on the EDRM Metrics Code set.
  5. "Practice Tools - Uniform Task-Based Management System". Archived from the original on 2009-06-12.
  6. "UTBMS Trademark Billing Codes". Archived from the original on 2016-06-24.