CounselGO Quickstart Guide

What is CounselGO?

CounselGO is a portal for submitting invoices to clients who are using SimpleLegal to manage their e-billing and legal matters. CounselGO also helps track matters referred by clients and the timekeepers who work billable hours on those matters. Using CounselGO allows vendor law firms to deliver invoices to clients in a manner that makes tracking, review, and processing efficient.

This article covers the following topics:

• Getting an Account
• Adding a Client
• Adding a Timekeeper
• Submitting an Invoice
• Managing CounselGO Users
• FAQs

Getting an Account

You must request access to CounselGO from your client directly. For each vendor, a client can assign up to two CounselGO admins. The CounselGO admins can create other CounselGO users for their firm along with resend activation emails, deactivate users, and set up accruals request contacts.

After the client enables CounselGO access for your firm, the designated admin(s) will receive a registration email to set a password (see example screenshot below).

Any new CounselGO users added from your firm for that client will receive the registration email.

Adding a Client

If you are supporting more than one client who is using SimpleLegal for e-billing, the process for access is the same as described in the section above. The client must enable CounselGO access for your firm and add at least one CounselGO admin. 

The designated admin will receive a notification email indicating the client has enabled access and can grant access to other users from your firm. If you receive a notification that you have been added to a new client, you will not be required to set up another password. The additional client will appear on the My Clients page in CounselGO so that you can switch between them as needed. 

Adding Timekeepers

Timekeepers are people from your firm who perform billable work that needs to be invoiced. In CounselGO, hourly invoice line items must be associated with specific timekeepers. Please make sure to add any necessary timekeepers before attempting to submit an invoice.

There are two ways to add timekeepers and their rates via CounselGO:

• Submitted to Client: Only applies if the client has timekeeper rate validation enabled. Depending on billing guidelines, submitting rates for approval may be required.
• Law Firm Internal: Timekeeper rates not submitted to the client; resides in CounselGO only for reference so that they can be associated with invoice line items.

To add or view timekeepers, select the relevant client from the CounselGO client list page and then click Timekeepers from the navigation bar on the left. 

Submitting Timekeepers to Clients

NOTE: If the client does not require vendors to submit timekeeper rates for approval, only the Law Firm Internal tab appears. Skip to the next section for more information. 

To submit timekeeper rates for approval by the client:

1. Click the Submit Timekeepers button in the top-right corner.

2. Click Get Started under the preferred method (i.e., Excel, CSV, or Web Form). 

3. Fill in or upload the required information and then click Submit to notify the client.

Click here for detailed instructions on submitting timekeepers to clients.

Law Firm Internal Timekeepers

To add timekeeper rates that reside in CounselGO only:

1. Go to the Law Firm Internal tab and click New Timekeeper.

2. Enter the details into the web form and then click Submit.

Click here for more detailed instructions on adding internal timekeeper rates.

Selecting Timekeepers for Invoice Line Items

When submitting a non-LEDES invoice (see section below), a drop-down listing timekeepers appears when adding an hourly line item. This list includes all approved and pending timekeepers whose rates have been submitted to the client as well as any internal timekeeper rates added via CounselGO only.

Submitting Invoices

Before moving forward, please make sure to confirm billing guidelines and requirements with your client. For example:

• Hourly line items in an invoice must be associated with specific timekeepers. Make sure to set up timekeepers in CounselGO before submitting invoices.
• Most clients require a PDF copy when submitting a LEDES formatted invoice. Make sure to verify that both formats reflect discounts and that amounts match across both.

Standard LEDES Formatted Invoices

(https://ledes.org/) Formats 1998B and 1998BI V2 are supported.

As a general rule, please use the standard LEDES format for producing invoices for clients using SimpleLegal if possible. There are a number of advantages to this method, including ease of processing for approval and payment.

1. Click the New Invoice (top right) button.

2. Click Upload LEDES Files. 

3. Drag and drop one or more LEDES invoices onto the page, or add them by clicking Choose Files. 

NOTE: If you have a PDF copy of the invoice and the file name of the PDF includes the matching invoice number, you can upload them at this time. CounselGO uses the invoice numbers in the file names to match the PDF to the invoice.

4. Once you have uploaded all invoices, click Next, Validate Invoices to load the invoice information into CounselGO. If successful, the Review page appears.

TIP: Get an error? Please refer to the FAQ section in this article or contact [e-mail]. 

5. With the validated LEDES invoice(s) loaded, you can add attachments, change the currency, enter a matter name, or add notes. See "Active Codes" in the ISO 4217 currency codes reference if needed. 

IMPORTANT: Confirm you choose the correct matter before submitting the invoice. Selecting the wrong matter will delay processing. 

6. Review the information and then click Everything Reviewed, Submit All Invoices. 

Non-LEDES Manual Invoices

1. Click the New Invoice (top right) button. 

2. Click Create Invoice Manually. 

3. In the top panel, enter in invoice details:

1. • Invoice Number
   • Invoice Description
   • Invoice Date
   • Billing Period Start and End Dates
   • Currency
   • Additional Notes/Comments

4. Click Add Attachments to upload a PDF of the invoice and other supporting documentation. 

5. Click Select Client Matter and choose the matter to which the invoice applied. 

NOTE: Select Other only if a referred Client Matter ID is not required by your client. 

6. Enter the Firm Matter ID. 

7. Click the +Line Item button and complete the required/optional fields in the modal. For more detailed information about this step, refer to the Non-LEDES Invoice article.

8. Click Save and Add Another to continue adding line items or click Save if you are finished. 

9. Review the entries and then click Submit to Client if ready to move forward. 

Once an invoice is submitted, it cannot be recalled. If you find an error, please ask your client directly to reject the invoice so that you may correct and resubmit it. 

Convert PDF to Invoice (NEW)

If you have an invoice saved as a PDF, you can now convert them into a digital format for further editing directly in CounselGO instead of having to manually re-enter all of the data. 

1. Click New Invoice (top-right). 

2. Select the Convert PDF to Invoice option.

3. Review the modal and click I understand to continue.

4. Add your PDF file to start converting the file. 

For more detailed instructions on using this method, click here.

Managing CounselGO Users 

You can manage CounselGO users from your firm by going to Users from the navigation bar on the left.

NOTE: User lists are specific to the client you are currently viewing in CounselGO; it is not a comprehensive list of all CounselGO users from your firm. If you are using CounselGO to support more than one client, go to Clients from the navigation bar to switch into other clients and manage their associated CounselGO users. 

From here, you can add new users, update details such as email address and first/last name for existing users, resend activation emails, and set accruals request contacts. For more detailed instructions on how to manage CounselGO users for your firm's clients, review the CounselGO Admins section in the resource center.

Adding a New CounselGO User

The following steps must be taken from each client in CounselGO the user should be able to access. Adding them to one client does not mean they automatically have access to all clients.

1. Click the New User button from the Users List page. 

2. Enter the user's email address, first name, and last name. 

3. Select relevant boxes for permissions as follows:

• Leave boxes blank if creating a non-admin user with standard permissions.
• Select Admin to grant the user permissions to create/manage users. This option is only available if your client added only one CounselGO admin for your firm when granting access.
• Select Accruals Submission if the user should be notified of monthly requests for unbilled activity sent by your client. 
• Select General File Sharing if the user should be able to view files shared with them by the client and share files with the client. These are files not associated with specific matters. 
• Select Matter File Sharing if the user should be able to view matter-specific files shared with them by the client and share matter-specific files with the client. 
• Select Matter Updates if the user should be able to see comments/updates shared by the client for specific matters and add posts/responses for specific matters. 

NOTE: The permission options displayed depend on your client's settings in SimpleLegal. 

4. Click the Submit button. 

Updating a CounselGO User

1. Click on the name of the user from the Users List page.

2. Make changes to the email address, first/last name, or permissions.

3. Update the user account status if needed (i.e., Active or Inactive). This will only apply to the user's status for the client you are currently viewing in CounselGO. 

4. Click Submit. 

FAQs

Why won't my LEDES invoice load or validate in CounselGO?

Other common issues with LEDES files formatting include the following:

• missing header identifier row (LEDES1998B[] or LEDES98BI[])
• missing or extra columns (24 columns for LEDES1998B and 51 columns for LEDES98BI)
• missing brackets at the end of each line of the file ( should always be [])
• incorrect field delimiters (should always be pipe delimited |)
• unrecognized or non-ASCII characters 

Why hasn't my invoice been paid yet?

The first action should be to contact the client and request a status of any unpaid invoice. If there appears to be an error or issue with the invoice, please contact the Support Team at [e-mail] along with the invoice number(s) and the Support Team can investigate further.

Video

How to submit invoices in PDF format - general walkthrough video