PDF Invoice Submission - Hourly Fee (for Vendors and Law Firms)

This article is for vendors and law firms.

This article covers:

• Submitting a PDF Hourly Fee Invoice
• Uploading a Resubmitted PDF Invoice
• Deleting Unconfirmed Invoices
• Invoice Statuses
• Invoice FAQs

On Brightflag, you can submit invoices in PDF or LEDES format. You can also attach a PDF file to your LEDES submission if it's required by your client. PDF invoices can either include an itemized hourly breakdown or an agreed fixed fee. Invoices with a mixture of hourly and fixed fees are not accepted on Brightflag - they must be separated into two separate invoices.

Scroll to the bottom of the page to find our best practice hourly fee sample PDF. If you can't find an invoice you've uploaded, click here. 

Submitting a PDF Hourly Fee Invoice

Watch this video guide or follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Menu > Invoices > Upload PDF.
   
   
2. Click Choose File to upload the PDF invoice from your PC. - For security reasons, certain characters are not accepted in file names. The permitted characters are A-Z, a-z, 0-9, spaces ' ', hyphens '-', underscores '_', dots '.', brackets '()', '&' and '%'. If you receive this error, please rename your invoice and re-upload.
   
   
3. Once the Invoice has been uploaded, it will appear in a preview format on the left side of your screen. Use the Matter Search bar to find the relevant matter. You can only submit an invoice to a single matter. Do not leave this field blank, as that may prevent you from filling in the currency in a later step.
   
   
4. If this is a new invoice (not previously rejected), select No under Is This a Resubmitted Invoice?.
   
5. If your invoice is a resubmission of a previously rejected draft, select Yes. You'll be prompted to link to the original invoice number. View further instructions on linking to a previous invoice below. 
6. Next, select Hourly Fees. For fixed fee PDF invoice submission, click here. 
7. Enter the Invoice Number. Ensure the number matches the invoice number on the PDF, or your invoice may be rejected. Each invoice must have a unique invoice number unless it's a resubmitted invoice.
   
8. Select the invoice Currency as it appears on the PDF. Each invoice must only contain one currency. Important to note that the Currency field will not populate until you have linked this Invoice to the appropriate Matter - please see step 4 above.
   
9. Enter the Billing Period start and end dates. This represents the dates during which the work was carried out. These dates should match the first and last narrative lines. Invoices should not span multiple months.
   
   
   
10. Select the Invoice Date. This must match the date on your invoice. This is the date that the invoice was issued. 
    
    
    
11. Enter the Fees. This is the sum of all fee line items, excluding any discounts, expenses, or tax.
    
12. Enter any discounts - either a total Discount Amount or a Discount %. 
    
13. Enter any Expenses. This is the sum of all expense line items
14. Enter your Total Tax amount. If you are prompted to enter tax codes and rates, click here for guidance.
15. The Invoice Total will be auto-calculated based on the amounts entered in previous fields. If this total does not match the total on your PDF, you'll need to rectify any mistakes in the entries of the previous fields.
    
    
    
16. Next, you have the option to add a note for your client. This will be visible when they are reviewing. 
17. Verify that all fields match the PDF invoice. Any mismatch will lead to invoice rejection. Some clients may require that the entity and entity address on the PDF match the matter. If so, check the matter details before creating your PDF.
18. Click 'Submit Invoice'. Alternatively, click Save & Add New to save this upload and add another PDF. 
19. Confirm the submission by clicking Submit Invoice in the pop-up window that follows.
    
20. You'll be redirected to the confirmation page, where uploaded invoices will be listed. 
21. In the left-hand column, tick the box beside the invoice(s) you're submitting.
22. Click Submit Selected Invoices.
23. You'll be redirected to the invoices page, where you'll see a pending status beside your invoice. The invoice won't be visible to your client while the invoice is being processed by Brightflag. Click here to find out more about invoice statuses. 
24. You'll be notified by email once your email has been approved or rejected.

Uploading a Resubmitted PDF Invoice

If you are resubmitting an invoice, you must ensure that the original draft has been rejected. During the upload process, select Yes when asked Is This a Resubmitted Invoice?. When you select yes, a drop-down will appear which prompts you to link to the original invoice. Open the drop-down to view previous invoice numbers, and select the correct number.

If the correct invoice number does not appear, check that:

• You have access to the original invoice.
• The original draft has a rejected status. 
• The invoice hasn't been uploaded by another user from a different firm office location.

Once you have successfully linked the invoice, return to step 8 above. 

Deleting Unconfirmed Invoices 

You can delete invoices that have been uploaded. Please note that this option does not apply to invoices that have been submitted. If you'd like to delete an invoice that's been uploaded, navigate to the 'Upload PDF' page. You'll see a button that says 'View Uploaded PDF Invoices to Confirm' 

You'll be redirected to the confirmation page, where you can view uploaded invoices. Tick the box beside the invoice you want to delec. Next, click on the red 'Delete' button on the right-hand side.

Invoice Statuses

Once your invoice has been submitted, you should be redirected to the View Invoices page. (Menu > Invoices > View Invoices). Your invoice should appear on this page with a pending status. While the invoice is pending, it is being processed by Brightflag and not visible to your client. You'll receive an email notification once your invoice has been approved or rejected. You can also monitor this page for a change in status. Learn more about invoice statuses. 

Invoice FAQs

I can't input the Invoice Date.

If there are no date opinions to select, ensure your billing period start date is set to a previous date. Brightflag will not accept billing periods in the future. 

My PDF won't upload to Brightflag. 

If your PDF file won't upload to Brightflag, ensure that it meets the following criteria:

• The PDF size must be less than 7MB.
• Invoices must be stored/saved on a local drive, not on a network drive.
• Invoice PDF filename should only include permitted characters:
  • A-Z, a-z, 0-9, spaces ' ', hyphens '-', underscores '_', dots '.', brackets '()', '&' and '%'. If you receive this error please rename your invoice and re-upload.

I'm receiving an error that says my invoice has already been uploaded. 

If you attempt to submit an invoice that has been previously uploaded or submitted, you may receive an error and be blocked from submitting. Check that:

• The invoice hasn't been uploaded and not successfully submitted. 
  • Navigate to the relevant invoice upload page (Menu > Invoices > Upload PDF) and select
  • 'View Uploaded Invoices to Submit'
• The invoice may have been uploaded by a colleague.
• The invoice may have been rejected, and you need to link it to the original draft (see above for instructions).