UTBMS litigation codes

The litigation set splits a case into five phases: L100 case assessment and administration, L200 pleadings and pre-trial motions, L300 discovery, L400 trial preparation and trial, and L500 appeal. Each time entry is coded to a task inside a phase, such as L330 Depositions, never to the phase code itself.

The phase also tells the client how far the case has gone. A budget is usually set per phase, so a firm whose time drifts into L190 Other for convenience shows the client a budget overrun it cannot explain.

Document work has three homes. Reading to learn the facts is L110, reviewing for production and privilege is L320, and building the review database is L140. A day of review for a production is L320 with A104, even if the lawyer learned a lot about the facts.

Research follows the task. Research for a summary judgment brief is L240 with A102, not L120. L120 keeps only the early work that shapes the strategy.

Court time has two codes. A scheduling or Rule 16 conference is L230, while time in court once trial has started, including pre-trial conferences about the trial, is L450.

Each litigation entry also carries an activity code, A101 to A111: plan and prepare, research, draft, review, communicate (in the firm, with the client, with other counsel, with others), attend, manage files, or other. "Drafted interrogatory responses" is L310 with A103; "call with opposing counsel on deposition dates" is L330 with A107.

A107 and A108 are easy to swap. A107 is other counsel only; courts, witnesses, experts and vendors are A108.

In a LEDES 1998B file the task code goes in LINE_ITEM_TASK_CODE and the activity code in LINE_ITEM_ACTIVITY_CODE. The client's e-billing system checks both against the code set it accepts, so a typo such as L33 or an expense code on a fee line is rejected before anyone reads it. Expenses for the same case use the UTBMS expense codes, and the full lookup is on the UTBMS codes page.