Law Department Management Blog
Steadily, steadily e-billing software handles more and more bills from law firms (See my post of Jan. 4, 2005.). The largest firms, those in the AmLaw 200, are the most likely candidates to invoice electronically, and indeed the 116 that responded to a recent survey, published in Law Firm Inc., Sept./Oct. 2006 at 58, catalogue their use of more than a dozen software packages (See my post of July 16, 2006 on this cottage industry.). I list the packages, but note that some firms rely on multiple products.
The two most common are CT Tymetrix (Tripoint/Direct Invoice) used by 31 firms and Serengeti (Tracker) used by 29 firms. Next most common is DataCert (17 firms) followed by LexisNexis (Counsellink, Examen) at 14 firms. Another drop in frequency of use reaches BottomLine Technologies (8 firms), Bridgeway (eCounsel), Oracle/PeopleSoft (eSettlements), Thomson Elite, Eliot, and Litigation Advisor (the least with a usage number: 4 firms). Custom software is at a few law firms and 28 firms use other packages! An amazing efflorescence of software, which is sure to be pared down by mergers and failures.
What struck me most from the data was not the proliferation of packages but the fact that 29 huge firms reported that they use no e-billing software. If 25 percent of the largest US law firms have not put their toe in the e-billing water, years after the protocols have been standardized with LEDES98b, this particular technology has a long row to hoe. But my interpretation may be wrong, because elsewhere (at 53) the article states that “Almost 90 percent of survey respondents say that 1 to 25 percent of their clients require the use of an e-billing program.”