Submitting a LEDES Invoice With Capped Fees (for Vendors and Law Firms)

This article is for vendors and law firms.

Capped Fee Rate Card

Capped fee agreements can be checked against clients' rate cards at the upload point of a LEDES invoice. It also helps vendors to identify any errors prior to completing their invoice submission, and also allows vendors to upload invoices for the agreed fixed fee amount.

Capped fees are enforced for LEDES file invoices (98B or 98BI). PDF-only invoices will not have this check in place.

Uploading LEDES Invoices with Capped Fee Feature Enabled

Click here for steps on how to submit LEDES invoices.

Ensure that your LEDES invoice corresponds to your client's capped fee rate card exactly. The following fields are required in the LEDES file:

• ‘LINE_ITEM_DESCRIPTION’ (the description must begin with an exact match of the rate card specified by your customer, but can then be followed up with a further custom description if required)
  • Example: 'US Non-prov Application'
• ‘LINE_ITEM_TASK_CODE’ (exact match)
  • Example: 'PA320'
• ‘CURRENCY’ (you will need to add this if using the LEDES 98B as it is not a required field)
  • Format: ISO. For exact currency symbols, please reference the list here: https://fixer.io/symbols

If the above requirements are not complied with, the capped fee check will fail and your invoices may be rejected by the customer.

Warning Errors Uploading LEDES Capped Fee Invoice

If there are errors in your LEDES file submission, you will see the “warnings/error” symbol. Click on this symbol to learn the errors identified in the file:

Capped Fee Errors

The Brightflag system will automatically check the ‘LINE_ITEM_TOTAL’ against the customer rates capped fee rates card. 

If the rate applied is greater than the capped fee amount for that task code, task description, you will receive a warning message (screenshot below)

• This warning message provides you with an opportunity to address/correct any issues with the LEDES invoice submission and re-upload with the agreed capped fees. 
  • This warning message will only appear if there is a discrepancy in the invoice amount and the approved capped fee amount, not if there is an error with the task code or task description.
• If the task code and or the start of the task description are not an exact match to the customer's capped fee rates card, the check will not be performed and your invoice may be rejected as a result.
  • For example, a spelling error, additional spaces, or additional description in the task description will prevent the capped fee feature from checking the fees and flagging capped fee breaches on the invoice.
  • It is also important to note that this warning will not prevent you from proceeding with the invoice upload, so to avoid any issue with your invoice being approved, it's advised to correct any errors at this stage.