Universal Task Based Management System (UTBMS)
UTBMS stands for the Universal Task Based Management System, a series of codes used to classify the legal services performed by a law firm in an electronic invoice submission.
A History of UTBMS
In the mid-1990’s major US law departments and insurers wanted to better understand the services provided by outside counsel. The manner in which paper bills presented this information was virtually impossible to digest; it was not uncommon for bill to include a description of services performed by a timekeeper on a single day that ran for multiple paragraphs or pages.
A joint group from The American Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel and PricewaterhouseCoopers was formed to create a unified electronic billing standard.
As part of this effort, it was decided that electronic invoice time entries should be task-based and aggregated by type of work performed, resulting in the possibility that multiple time entries could result from the services performed in a single day on a matter.
To group services by task, codes to classify the services performed were needed.
The project to create a coding system ran simultaneously with the effort to create a standard billing format and resulted in the UTBMS code sets.
While the e-billing project group morphed into what is now known as the LEDES® Oversight Committee (permanently tasked with maintaining the standards for the exchange of billing and other information related to the delivery of legal services), the UTBMS project team disbanded once their work on the original code sets was complete.
Usability
By coding time entries it was possible for receiving systems to electronically test invoice submissions, allowing for consistent enforcement of the law department’s outside counsel billing guidelines and alleviating some of the burden on bill reviewers. Time entry coding assists with reporting and facilitates comparison of the services provided by outside counsel working for the law department.
The Original Ratified Code Sets
The original ABA group set forth four different code sets. See http://www.abanet.org/litigation/utbms/home.html for an overview of the ABA Code Sets.
Code Set Components
Time Entry Codes
In each of the code sets set forth, UTBMS coding for time entries is broken into three components:
Phase Codes describe the phase of the work performed. Phase Codes begin with a letter to distinguish the code set used and are always numbers in multiples of 100.
- L100 indicates the Assessment, Development and Administration phase of handling a litigation matter; L200 indicates the Pre-Trial Pleadings and Motions phase, etc.
Task Codes describe the task performed. The Phase of work performed is inferred from the first 2 characters of the Task Code and are followed by numbers that are (at least as originally set forth) multiples of 10.
- L110 indicates Fact Investigation/Development tasks; L120 indicates Analysis/Strategy tasks, etc. Both of the codes in this example associate to Assessment, Development and Administration phase of the Litigation Code Set because both begin with L1.
In e-billing, law departments decide whether Outside Counsel report time using Phase or Task coding; Phase coding is hierarchically less granular than Task coding.
Activity Codes describe the actual work performed by the timekeeper. Activity codes always begin with A1 and there are eleven codes in total. The Activity Codes are exactly the same across all of the original ABA UTBMS sets.
- A101 is used to indicate that the timekeeper performed work associated with Plan and Prepare for; A102 indicates that Research was performed; A103 indicates Draft/Revise; etc.
In e-billing, Law departments decide whether Activity coding is required at all on time entries.
Expense Entry Codes
Expense Codes were created to classify the expenses submitted by law firms on their invoices. Expense codes begin with an E and are numbered consecutively from 101 to 124. The Expense Codes are exactly the same across all of the original ABA UTBMS sets.
- E101 is used for Copying; E102 for Outside Printing; E103 for Word Processing; E104 for Facsimile; etc.
It is not unusual for law departments to mandate maximum charges per expense item (like $.07 per page for internal copies) or to exclude usage of certain expense codes (like disallowing use of E124 Other)
Other Ratified Standards
Canadian Litigation Code Set
A group within Canada met in 1997 to consider the UTBMS code sets created by the ABA as they pertain to handling matters within the Canadian legal system. The group adopted the ABA Project and Counseling code sets without modification, discarded the Bankruptcy code set and set forth a revised version of the ABA’s Litigation Code Set. More information on their efforts and the Canadian Litigation Code Set can be found here.
DRI Litigation Code Set
A group within DRI met in 2005 to reconsider the Litigation Code Set as used on insurance matters, and their efforts led to a modification that referred to as the DRI Litigation Code Set. More information on this code set can be found here.
Code Sets Ratified by the LEDES Oversight Committee
In 2005 a UTBMS Task force was formed to reconsider the ratified code sets and whether additional code sets were needed. The UTBMS Task Force merged with the LEDES™ Oversight Committee in 2006 and their work is continued by the LOC UTBMS Subcommittee. The LOC set forth the following UTBMS standards in 2007:
These are the only ratified standard in release today.
Standard?
While some third-party billing systems do not require UTBMS coding as an element of an electronic invoice line item, those that do often deviate slightly from the standards. Refer to documentation provided by your law department clients or the e-billing vendor system used for the specific codes required in any e-billing implementation.