Uniform Task-Based Management System


The Uniform Task-Based Management System 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 corporate clients and law firms coordinated and supported by Price Waterhouse LLP. UTBMS codes are now maintained and developed by the Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard Oversight Committee.

Background

UTBMS coding is reflected in legal bills sent from a law firm to its corporate clients. 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 attorney and 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 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. 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, followed by a three-digit number. Tasks sharing the same letter and first digit belong to the same phase.
From time-to-time, the LEDES Oversight Committee, the administrative body that oversees these codes, adds and changes codes. In 2007, a set of Intellectual Property codes were finalized and ratified. In 2011, a set of "eDiscovery" codes were ratified. In 2015, the LOC ratified a set of Governance, Risk and Compliance codes based on the Open Compliance & Ethics Group GRC Capability Model.

Lists of the Codes

Litigation Code Set

  • L100 Case Assessment, Development and Administration
  • *L110 Fact Investigation/Development
  • *L120 Analysis/Strategy
  • *L130 Experts/Consultants
  • *L140 Document/File Management
  • *L150 Budgeting
  • *L160 Settlement/Non-Binding ADR
  • *L190 Other Case Assessment, Development and Administration
  • L200 Pre-Trial Pleadings and Motions
  • *L210 Pleadings
  • *L220 Preliminary Injunctions/Provisional Remedies
  • *L230 Court Mandated Conferences
  • *L240 Dispositive Motions
  • *L250 Other Written Motions and Submissions
  • *L260 Class Action Certification and Notice
  • L300 Discovery
  • *L310 Written Discovery
  • *L320 Document Production
  • *L330 Depositions
  • *L340 Expert Discovery
  • *L350 Discovery Motions
  • *L390 Other Discovery
  • L400 Trial Preparation and Trial
  • *L410 Fact Witnesses
  • *L420 Expert Witnesses
  • *L430 Written Motions and Submissions
  • *L440 Other Trial Preparation and Support
  • *L450 Trial and Hearing Attendance
  • *L460 Post-Trial Motions and Submissions
  • *L470 Enforcement
  • L500 Appeal
  • *L510 Appellate Motions and Submissions
  • *L520 Appellate Briefs
  • *L530 Oral Argument

    eDiscovery Code Set

  • L600 Identification
  • *L601 Discovery planning
  • *L602 Interviews
  • *L609 Quality assurance and control
  • L610 Preservation
  • *L611 Preservation order
  • *L612 Legal hold
  • *L619 Quality assurance and control
  • L620 Collection
  • *L621 Collection/Recovery
  • *L622 Media costs
  • *L623 Media/ESI Transfer, Receipt, Inventory
  • *L629 Quality assurance and control
  • L630 Processing
  • *L631 ESI stage, preparation and process
  • *L632 Scanning - Hard Copy
  • *L633 Foreign language translation
  • *L634 Exception handling
  • *L639 Quality assurance and control
  • L650 Review
  • *L651 Hosting costs
  • *L693 Review Planning & Training
  • *L652 Objective and Subjective coding
  • *L653 First pass document review
  • *L654 Second pass document review
  • *L655 Privilege review
  • *L656 Redaction
  • *L659 Quality assurance and control
  • L660 Analysis
  • L670 Production
  • *L671 Conversion of ESI to production format
  • *L679 Quality assurance and control
  • L680 Presentation
  • L690 Project Management

    Counseling Code Set

  • C100 Fact Gathering
  • C200 Researching Law
  • C300 Analysis and Advice
  • C400 Third Party Communication

    Project Code Set

  • P100 Project Administration
  • P200 Fact Gathering/Due Diligence
  • *P210 Corporate Review
  • *P220 Tax
  • *P230 Environmental
  • *P240 Real and Personal Property
  • *P250 Employee/Labor
  • *P260 Intellectual Property
  • *P270 Regulatory Reviews
  • *P280 Other
  • P300 Structure/Strategy/Analysis
  • P400 Initial Document Preparation/Filing
  • P500 Negotiation/Revision/Responses
  • P600 Completion/Closing
  • P700 Post-Completion/Post-Closing
  • P800 Maintenance and Renewal

    Bankruptcy Code Set

  • B100 Administration
  • *B110 Case Administration
  • *B120 Asset Analysis and Recovery
  • *B130 Asset Disposition
  • *B140 Relief from Stay/Adequate Protection Proceedings
  • *B150 Meetings of and Communications with Creditors
  • *B160 Fee/Employment Applications
  • *B170 Fee/Employment Objections
  • *B180 Avoidance Action Analysis
  • *B185 Assumption/Rejection of Leases and Contracts
  • *B190 Other Contested Matters
  • *B195 Non-Working Travel
  • B200 Operations
  • *B210 Business Operations
  • *B220 Employee Benefits/Pensions
  • *B230 Financing/Cash Collections
  • *B240 Tax Issues
  • *B250 Real Estate
  • *B260 Board of Directors Matters
  • B300 Claims and Plan
  • *B310 Claims Administration and Objections
  • *B320 Plan and Disclosure Statement (including Business Plan
  • B400 Bankruptcy-Related Advice
  • *B410 General Bankruptcy Advice/Opinions
  • *B420 Restructurings

    Patent Code Set

  • PA100 Assessment, Development, and Administration
  • *PA110 Fact Investigation and Development
  • *PA120 Analysis/Strategy
  • *PA130 Document/File Management
  • *PA140 Budgeting
  • *PA199 Other Assessment, Development, or Administration
  • PA200 Patent Investigation and Analysis
  • *PA210 State-of-the-Art Investigation
  • *PA220 Patentability Investigation
  • *PA230 Clearance Investigation
  • *PA240 Validity Investigation
  • *PA250 Publication Watches
  • *PA260 Infringement Investigation
  • *PA270 Status Investigation
  • *PA299 Other Patent Investigation and Analysis
  • PA300 Domestic Patent Preparation
  • *PA310 Provisional Application Preparation - Domestic
  • *PA320 Non-Provisional Application Preparation - Domestic
  • *PA330 Design Application Preparation - Domestic
  • *PA340 Plant Patent Preparation - Domestic
  • *PA350 Continuing Application Preparation - Domestic
  • *PA360 Validation Patent Application Preparation - Domestic
  • *PA399 Other Patent Application Preparation - Domestic
  • PA400 Domestic Patent Prosecution
  • *PA450 Post-Issuance Remedial Action - Domestic
  • *PA560 Validation Patent Application Preparation - International
  • *PA650 Post-Issuance Remedial Action - International
  • *PA410 Information Disclosure Statement - Domestic
  • *PA420 Preliminary Amendment - Domestic
  • *PA430 Official Communication - Domestic
  • *PA440 Quasi-Judicial Administrative Proceedings - Domestic
  • *PA499 Other Patent Prosecution - Domestic
  • PA500 International Patent Preparation
  • *PA510 Provisional Application Preparation - International
  • *PA520 Non-Provisional Application Preparation - International
  • *PA530 Design Application Preparation - International
  • *PA540 Plant Patent Preparation - International
  • *PA550 Continuing Application Preparation - International
  • *PA599 Other Patent Application Preparation - International
  • PA600 International Patent Prosecution
  • *PA610 Information Disclosure Statement - International
  • *PA620 Preliminary Amendment - International
  • *PA630 Official Communication - International
  • *PA640 Quasi-Judicial Administrative Proceedings - International
  • *PA699 Other Patent Prosecution - International
  • PA700 Other Patent-Related Tasks
  • *PA710 Opinion Preparation
  • *PA720 Portfolio Analysis and Management
  • *PA730 Assignments and Security Interests
  • *PA740 Licensing

    Trademark Code Set

  • TR100 Assessment, Development, and Administration
  • *TR110 Fact Investigation and Development
  • *TR120 Analysis/Strategy
  • *TR130 Document/File Management
  • *TR140 Budgeting
  • *TR199 Other Assessment, Development, or Administration
  • TR200 Trademark Investigation and Analysis
  • *TR220 Registerability Investigation
  • *TR230 Clearance Investigation
  • *TR240 Opposition Investigation
  • *TR250 Publication Watches
  • *TR260 Enforcement Investigation
  • *TR270 Status Investigation
  • *TR299 Other Trademark Investigation and Analysis
  • TR300 Domestic Trademark Application Preparation
  • *TR310 Application Preparation and Filing - Domestic
  • *TR399 Other Domestic Trademark Application Preparation and Filing
  • TR400 Domestic Trademark Prosecution and Renewal
  • *TR410 Aff., Pet., Ext., Decl. and Other Filings - Domestic
  • *TR420 Preliminary Amendment - Domestic
  • *TR430 Official Communication - Domestic
  • *TR440 Quasi-Judicial Administrative Proceedings - Domestic
  • *TR499 Other Trademark Prosecution - Domestic
  • TR500 International Trademark Application Preparation and Renewals
  • *TR510 Application Preparation and Filing - International
  • *TR599 Other International Trademark Application Prep. and Filing
  • TR600 International Trademark Prosecution and Renewal
  • *TR610 Aff., Pet., Ext., Decl. and Other Filings - International
  • *TR620 Preliminary Amendment - International
  • *TR630 Official Communication - International
  • *TR640 Quasi-Judicial Administrative Proceedings - International
  • *TR699 Other Trademark Prosecution - International
  • TR700 Other Trademark Related Tasks
  • *TR710 Opinion Preparation
  • *TR720 Portfolio Analysis and Management
  • *TR730 Assignments and Security Interests
  • *TR740 Licensing
  • *TR750 Domain Names - gTLDs
  • *TR760 Domain Names - ccTLDs
  • *TR770 Quasi-Judicial Administrative Proceedings - Domain Names
  • *TR799 Other Trademark Prosecution