User Guide
Legal-specific features
LEDES + UTBMS + matters + billable-hour rounding + retainers. Toggle on the Attorney module.
Toggle on the Attorney module
Enabling the
attorney module unlocks legal billing features — LEDES export, UTBMS codes, matter sidecar, billable- hour rounding, expense codes. Available on every tier with no per-feature gating.The 5 building blocks
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LEDES export
1998B or 2000 format. Test Export tab portal-validates any LEDES file before you send it to the carrier.
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UTBMS codes
Task codes (L100s, L200s) + activity codes (A100s) per time entry. Expense codes (E110 / E112 / E124) per reimbursable line.
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Matter sidecar
Project flagged
is_legal_matter=true carries law_firm_matter_id + client_matter_id. Stamped onto every invoice line.🕓
Billable rounding
Per-client increment (6 / 10 / 15 min) + strategy (up / nearest / down). Applied at invoice generation; raw minutes stay in the audit trail.
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Retainers
Client + matter-scoped advance deposits with drawdown ledger. Available to every tenant, not just legal.
Why matter IDs matter
Carriers reject LEDES files where matter IDs don't match their open-matter registry. Stamping the IDs at the project level + freezing them on every emitted invoice means you can't accidentally send the wrong matter ID just because you typed it once and forgot.
Billable-hour rounding configuration
6 min (0.1h)10 min15 minround upround nearestround down
Most attorneys use 6-minute round-up (the classic 0.1-hour tenths convention). Per-client setting on the client edit page. Raw minutes stay on the time entry; rounding applies only at invoice generation, so the audit trail keeps the actual time worked.
Retainer drawdown
- ✓Initial amount + threshold for low-balance alerts
- ✓Append-only drawdown ledger tracks every pull
- ✓Auto-flip to depleted on balance=0
- ✓Lazy-on-read alert pipeline (7-day cooldown)
- ✓Auto-ranked retainer picker on Record Payment (matter > client, FIFO)
- ✓Email digest to super_admins below threshold
Tip
Forward-compat with Phase E (IOLTA trust accounting) is built in — the retainer schema includes a reserved
account_type column for the eventual IOLTA distinction.Expense codes
Reimbursable expenses on legal matters carry UTBMS expense codes (E110 Out-of-town travel, E112 Court fees, E124 Other, etc.). Expense lines on invoices inherit matter IDs from the project, so LEDES pre-flight passes on the first run.
What's on the roadmap
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Phase B
1:N matter → projects. One legal matter spans multiple projects. Forward-compat schema already in place.
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Phase E
IOLTA trust accounting. Separate account type with strict-segregation rules. Deferred until a customer commits as anchor.