Line Item Adjustment Codes

Please make sure to review details and instructions about invoicing in CounselGO before moving forward with this article.

During invoice review, clients in SimpleLegal have the option to adjust the total billed amount and/or change the rate, hours, or amounts for individual line items. Depending on the client, invoices may display an adjustment reason, code, and/or description to provide more context on why an adjustment was made.  

Adjustment reasons can be added to invoices by clients in one of two ways: manually by a reviewer in SimpleLegal or automatically if the client has invoice validation and flagging to check for billing rules.

You can view adjustment reasons and other details (if provided) in the following ways:

• Automated email notification triggered by the client when approving or rejecting an invoice with adjustments; the email notification would include the a reason for adjustments to the invoice total and any other notes. It is up to the client to trigger this email notification.
• Checking for invoice-level adjustments from the Approved/Paid tab or Rejected tab on the invoices dashboard in CounselGO.
• Viewing adjustment reasons and descriptions for individual line items by opening the invoice's details page in CounselGO.
• Downloading the PDF invoice (if provided) to view the adjustment reason for the whole invoice (first page) and/or adjustment reasons for individual line items. 

See the table below for standard adjustment reasons and their codes and descriptions. 

Code	Reason	Description	Additional Notes
ADMIN	Administrative/Clerical	Administrative or clerical work is not billable	Tasks that are considered part of a law firm's overhead and do not typically require specialized training. These may have been added to an invoice because the timekeeper was recording all work performed without distinguishing between billable and non-billable tasks.  Examples of non-billable tasks include filing paperwork, alphabetizing, and scheduling.
BLOCK	Block Billing	Block billing is not billable	Refers to grouping several unrelated tasks into one line item. This makes it difficult to determine how much time was required and whether hours are inflated. In some cases, clients may require that the tasks be broken down into separate line items for consideration and approval.
CHIP	Chipping - Excessively splitting tasks	Excessively splitting tasks has been identified	Refers to breaking out a portion of task as a separate line item if it required minimal effort. This may result in the client being overcharged for a simple task.
CONF	Internal Conference	Internal conference activity is not billable	Time spent in internal meetings is not typically billable.
COPY	Copy, Scan, Fax, Print	Copy or scanning work is not billable. The expense for copying may be billable at a pre-approved rate.	Time spend copying, scanning, faxing, or printing documents in not considered a billable task. Expenses for copying, scanning, faxing, or printing documents are only reimbursable up to a reasonable amount. This is typically set to no more than $0.10 per page.
DATE	Billed Date Outside Range	Work billed on a date outside the invoice start and end billing dates has been identified	Indicates that the line item should be on a different invoice because it falls outside of the invoice's billing period.
DISC	Discount	Impermissible discount has been identified which is not billable	Line item represents a discount that was not approved or discussed with the client.
DLVRY	Expedited Delivery	Delivery related activity is not billable	Expedited delivery is not reimbursable if the law firm chooses to do this at their discretion and it was not requested or approved by the client.
DUP	Duplicate	Duplicate within the invoice identified.	Indicates the same task was billed twice as two separate line items and is not payable.
EXCS	Excessive	Excessive time has been identified which is not billable	Disproportionate time billed for a common or general task, such as excessive time billed for sending emails or completing a form.
INCRMT	Non-standard Increment	Deviation from the standard 1/10 billable hour increment has been identified	Billing time is outside the increments per the agreement between the client and vendor. Standard increments include 1/10th of an hour or 6 minutes, 1/6th of an hour or 10 minutes, or 1/4th of an hour or 15 minutes.
INVALID_TK	Invalid Timekeeper	No approved rate for billed timekeeper has been identified	Indicates the timekeeper associated with the line item has not been approved to work on the client's matter (e.g., the timekeeper's rate was rejected or never submitted).
LATE	Late Time	Invoice billing period is late or stale which is not billable	Time entered outside the allowed window for timekeeper (e.g., time entered weeks after work was performed).
LOCAL	Local Travel	Local travel activity is not billable	Expenses for local travel and other related reimbursements, such as meals, parking, and mileage, that are not billable.
MULTITK	Multiple Timekeeper Review or Attendance	Multiple timekeeper working on the same activity is not billable	Unless required, review by multiple timekeepers it not payable. Multiple timekeeper reviews can sometimes be due to on-the-job training, which is not billable.
NEW	New Timekeeper File Review	Potential time spent by a new timekeeper to ramp up on a matter is not billable	Time spent by a timekeeper getting familiar with a new client or matter is not typically billable.
NOBENE	Work without benefit of service	Time spent on working without a benefit of service is not billable	Refers to billed time that adds no value to a matter. An example includes a timekeeper being CC'd on an email and that timekeeper billing time for reviewing the correspondence even though no further involvement or action was taken/required.
NONATTY	Non-Attorney Task	Non-attorney activity billed as an attorney is not billable	Non-attorney tasks are billable but should be performed by a Paralegal or Legal Assistance. If performed by an Attorney, the rate may be adjusted to bill at the Paralegal rate.
OLD_INVOICE	Old Invoice	Invoice date is too old	Line item is better attributed to a previous invoice.
OT	Overtime Charges	Overtime related activity is not billable	Overtime charges are not reimbursable expenses.
OTHER	Other / Unspecified	Other reason(s)	Refers to another reason; check comments for details.
OVERHEAD	Overhead	Overhead related activity is not billable	Activity is vendor overhead and non-billable.
POST	Overhead - Postage	Postage related activity is not billable	Some clients consider postage and shipping charges to fall under the firm's overhead. When the option to email a document exists, for example, postage is often not billable.
PRV	Previously Billed	Re-billing of work from a previous invoice has been identified	Indicates the line item was billed on a prior invoice and is not payable as part of the current invoice.
RATE	Invalid Rate	Impermissible timekeeper rate is not billable	Line item rate violates agreement between the client and vendor for the work performed.
REPEAT	Formulaic / Repetitive	Task entered repeatedly for the same amount has been identified	Line item was appears to have been copied from another invoice instead of being created or customized for the specific invoice.
RSRCH	Legal Research	Research work is not billable	Basic legal research is not billable. Research is billable when specialized or for uncommon areas.
TASK	Task Code Violation	Impermissible task code is not billable	Inaccurate task code applied to this line item.
TIME	Time Tracking	Discrepancies with billed time identified	Line item for recording time in a billing system.
TIMELY	Old Billing	Line item is late or stale which is not billable	Line item is outside the current billing cycle.
TRVL	Travel	Travel activity has been identified which is not billable	Expenses for distance travel, including meals, parking, and mileage.
VAGUE	Vague	Vaguely worded or described work is not billable	Line item description is not specific enough. Descriptions should include nature of work performed and the purpose.

To avoid delays in processing or having invoices rejected, we recommend reviewing line items before submitting the invoice to verify adherence to billing guidelines. 

NOTE: The adjustment reason descriptions are for general reference only. The descriptions displayed on some invoices may be more specific or tailored to the client.