Uniform Task-Based Management System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:56, 2 April 2023

Revision as of 12:23, 25 July 2023

Line 1:

{{Cleanup bare URLs|date=September 2022}}

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 [[corporation|corporate]] clients and [[law firm]]s 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.

==Background==

UTBMS coding is reflected in legal bills sent from a [[law firm]] to its [[corporation|corporate]] clients.<ref>{{Citation |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Uniform Task-Based Management System |publisher=American Bar Association |url=http://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/resources/uniform_task_based_management_system.html |access-date=27 Feb 2016 | quote=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. }}</ref> 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 charges for [[Lawyer|attorney]] and [[paralegal|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.