Some of the Frequently Asked Questions about eBilling.Space. Covered in this section:
- How to Assign a Matter to a Lawyer
- How to Create a Client Matter
- How to Map a Client and Matter ID to a Matter
- How to use the Uplift Matter Function in eBilling.Space
To assign a matter to a lawyer who has already registered in eBilling.Space, please follow the steps described in this manual.
Your matter function should be a Project Manager on this matter; otherwise, this will not work, and you will not be able to access the settings.
Please go to matter settings by clicking on this icon:
Under “Assigned Lawyer / Staff the following will appear:
- Select the lawyer from the drop-down list.
- Select the function (to select the correct function, please see the description by putting the mouse cursor over the question mark)
- Enter hourly rate (as a billing manager, it is not necessary to enter the correct hourly rate. 1€, $, GBP, etc. is possible), select currency.
- Click on the “add” button.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on “Update” to make the changes.
The image below shows the "Create matter" page from the law firm’s perspective. The necessary information is the matter name, matter type, as well as the selection of the company and the company’s contact person (client). The field client defines the internal matter responsibility.
If you click on "Add matter details", a rather long input mask opens. Please note that you do not have to enter all the requested information. You are free to choose which information you want to store in relation to the respective matter.
In the following, there is a list of the detailed information that can be stored with each matter:
- Matter Name*
- Related Matter
- PO number
- Product number
- Company
- Matter type* (Category/field of law – one or multiple)
- Jurisdiction (multiple)
- Matter description
These settings will be done on the client’s side.
The following fields define the assigned lawyers for a matter:
- Lawyer*
- Function*
- Is contact person
- Hourly rates*
- Currency*
The functions of a lawyer have the following meanings:
Project manager:
A project manager is usually a partner of your law firm. A project manager has all administrator rights in relation to the specific matter and may edit the information provided on the law firm in their account data. A project manager may, e.g., invite additional lawyers of your law firm to use eBilling.Space. A project manager has unlimited access rights in relation to the specific project. A project manager has complete access to all project-specific data of eBilling.Space, such as time recordings of lawyers and statistical data. We recommend that you consult with the lawyer in question before assigning this function.
Project Lawyer:
A project lawyer is usually a (senior) associate of your law firm. Project lawyers do not have any administrator rights. They may only record and alter their own times on the matters assigned to them. They may also access their own legal analytics. A project lawyer does not have any other information rights.
Legal Support Staff:
Staff members who are not lawyers (i.e., interns, working students, articled clerks, research assistants, or paralegals) are listed as legal support staff. These staff members do not have administrator rights. They may only record and alter their own times on the matters assigned to them. They may also access their own statistics. Legal support staff members do not have any other information rights.
General Support Staff:
Staff members having no legal background (e.g., personnel assistants, translators) are listed as general support staff. General support staff members may only record and alter their own times on matters assigned to them. They may also access their own statistics. They do not have any other information rights.
Here, the billing information can be entered:
- Billing practice (fixed fee, hourly rates, [German] RVG)*
- Currency
- Billing cycle, next invoice (starting date)
- Alternative fee arrangement (Blended hourly rate, caps, contingency fee, fixed fee, retainer, volume discount)
- Expenses (fixed charge, unit charge)
Before a LEDES98B(I) file import for a matter can succeed, the client matter ID must be mapped to the matter. For this example, the CLIENT_ID (column 3 in the LEDES98BI file) would be 123, and LAW_FIRM_MATTER_ID would be 321 (column 4 in the LEDES98BI file). In a WIP LEDES98BI file, the corresponding columns are 1 and 2.
These are the steps that need to be performed to map the client matter ID to the respective matter:
- Choose the respective matter.
2. Click on the square icon in the last column for the respective matter to edit the matter:
3. Enter the designated Client and Matter ID in the 2 respective fields according to columns 3 and 4 in the invoice LEDES file:
4. Click on the plus button to add the client matter id which should now be listed below:
5. Press the send button to save the changes to the matter:
In the Tutorials section is reachable by clicking here:
Here's how to uplift the matter function of a law firm staff member.
- Go to the "Matters" menu.
2. Edit the matter settings.
3. Edit the user settings:
4. Change the function accordingly and then click on the diskette icon highlighted in red to save the new settings.
How do I use the Smart Invoice Converter?
You can find that information here.