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 change the rate or hours and make any other financial adjustments to line items. Depending on the client, line items in rejected invoices may display a reason code to indicate why an adjustment was made or requested. The reason code can be added in one of two ways: manually by a reviewer in SimpleLegal or automatically if the client has enabled an invoice workflow to flag invoices that do not match client-specific billing rules.

Below is an example PDF invoice with notes saved for vendor review on the first page:

Reason codes for adjustments and any comments added by the client appear under the line item detail as follows:

See the table below for descriptions of reason codes for line item adjustments:

code	term	definition
ADMIN	Administrative Clerical Tasks	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	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	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	Time spent in internal meetings is not typically billable.
COPY	Copy, Scan, Fax, Print	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	Indicates that the line item should be on a different invoice because it falls outside of the invoice's billing period.
DISC	Discount	Line item represents a discount that was not approved or discussed with the client.
DLVRY	Expedited Delivery	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	Indicates the same task was billed twice as two separate line items and is not payable.
EXCS	Excessive Time	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	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	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	Time entered outside the allowed window for timekeeper (e.g., time entered weeks after work was performed).
LOCAL	Local Travel	Expenses for local travel and other related reimbursements, such as meals, parking, and mileage, that are not billable.
MULTITK	Multiple Timekeeper Review or Attendance	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.
NOADJ	No Adjustment	No adjustment made on this line item.
NONATTY	Non-Attorney Task	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.
NEW	New Timekeeper File Review	Time spent by a timekeeper getting familiar with a new client or matter is not typically billable.
NOBENE	Work Without Benefit of Service	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.
OLD_INVOICE	Old Invoice	Line item is better attributed to a previous invoice.
OT	Overtime Charges	Overtime charges are not reimbursable expenses.
OTHER	Other	Refers to another reason; check comments for details.
OVERHEAD	Overhead	Activity is vendor overhead and non-billable.
POST	Overhead / Postage	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	Indicates the line item was billed on a prior invoice and is not payable as part of the current invoice.
RATE	Rate Violation	Line item rate violates agreement between the client and vendor for the work performed.
REPEAT	Formulaic / Repetitive	Line item was appears to have been copied from another invoice instead of being created or customized for the specific invoice.
RSRCH	Legal Research	Basic legal research is not billable. Research is billable when specialized or for uncommon areas.
TASK	Task Code Violation	Inaccurate task code applied to this line item.
TIME	Time tracking	Line item for recording time in a billing system.
TIMELY	Old Billing	Line item is outside the current billing cycle.
TRVL	Travel	Expenses for distance travel, including meals, parking, and mileage.
VAGUE	Vague	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 invoice line items before submitting and verifying billing rules and guidelines.