Checking an invoice against client guidelines

Published 6 October 2026. Updated 6 October 2026.

A corporate client sends back an invoice with entries cut, or an e-billing system rejects a line, and the firm writes off the time. When the cut traces back to a rule in the client's outside counsel guideline, it was predictable: the rule was there, and nobody compared the draft invoice against it before it went out.

This guide is a practical routine for doing that comparison by hand, in a way that works for a firm of any size. If you want to understand what the guideline itself contains first, read how to read outside counsel guidelines.

Step 1: Get the current guideline

Guidelines get revised, and clients do not always announce it. Before you check anything, confirm that you hold the version the client expects you to follow. Look at the date or version on the document, and ask the client contact if there is any doubt.

Keep one copy per client in a single place, and note the date you received it. If the client also publishes billing rules inside an e-billing portal, treat those as part of the guideline.

Step 2: Turn the guideline into a short rule list

Nobody can hold a forty page document in their head while reading two hundred time entries. Go through the guideline once and write each billing rule as one line, with the clause number beside it.

Then group the rules by how you will check them:

• Arithmetic rules. Time increments, caps on travel time, limits on the number of lawyers at a meeting, limits on expense prices such as a rate per copy. A calculator or a spreadsheet settles these.
• Narrative rules. Entries must describe the specific task, must not combine tasks, must not use vague wording. These need reading.
• Rules that need history. Annual or matter-wide caps and budgets. These cannot be settled from one invoice alone.
• Process rules. Written permission before certain work, deadlines for submission. These are about what happened around the work, not the text of the entry.

A short list like this is also the thing you reuse next month for the same client. The guide on reading outside counsel guidelines shows how to build it clause by clause.

Step 3: Check the arithmetic rules first

These are fast and objective, so do them before you read any narrative.

1. Check that every entry uses the increment the guideline requires.
2. Check travel entries against any travel limits.
3. Count the timekeepers on meetings, hearings and calls where the guideline limits attendance.
4. Check each timekeeper and rate against what the client has agreed to.

Mark each problem with the clause number. A mark with no clause is hard to defend later, to the client or to your own lawyer.

Step 4: Read every narrative against the narrative rules

This is the slowest part of the check, and the place where a tired reader misses things. Read the entries in short sittings and ask the same questions each time:

1. Does the entry describe one task, or several in one line?
2. Does it say what was done, not only a category such as "review" or "research"?
3. Is the work something the guideline treats as overhead, such as filing, scheduling or other clerical work?
4. Is it a conference between lawyers of the firm, where the guideline limits that?
5. Does it name the subject well enough that someone at the client could connect it to the matter?

Write down the reason for each concern in plain words next to the quoted rule. If you can only say "this feels vague", look for the clause that makes it a problem. If there is none, note that too: a general clause about reasonable time may still be used against the entry, but it is a weaker concern than a breach of a specific rule.

Step 5: Decide what to do with each flagged entry

A flag is a question, not a verdict. For each one, the responsible lawyer has four honest options:

• Rewrite the narrative, if the work was fine and the description was poor.
• Split the entry into separate entries, if several tasks were lumped together and the time can be accurately divided.
• Reduce or write off the time before sending, if the guideline does not allow it.
• Keep it and explain, if there is a good reason and the client contact has agreed. Note the agreement.

Never change a narrative to describe work that was not done, and do not invent a time split. A rewrite must stay true to what actually happened. If the original description was too thin to tell what happened, ask the timekeeper.

Step 6: Record what you found

Count the flagged entries and add up their billed value. That total is the money at risk on this invoice, and it makes a useful number: after a few months it shows which clients, which rules and which timekeepers cause most of the trouble.

Feed that back to the timekeepers in a short note per client: the three rules that tripped the firm most often this period. Fixing habits at the source beats fixing entries at invoice time.

A short pre-submission checklist

How BillPrecheck does these steps

BillPrecheck does most of steps 2 to 4 and the totals in step 6, apart from the checks listed under its limits below. You upload two files: the client's guideline and the draft invoice. The invoice can be a LEDES 1998B file, a CSV or Excel export of your time entries, or a Word or PDF table.

Every entry comes back marked Pass, Flag or To check. Each flag quotes the guideline clause word for word, gives a plain reason and suggests a rewrite. If a quote cannot be found word for word in the guideline, the entry shows as To check, not as a flag. A second AI model reviews the result before you get it.

You download an annotated invoice (CSV or Excel), a report with the entries flagged and their billed value (Markdown and PDF), and a rules file you can reuse on that client's next invoice.

Some limits are worth knowing. BillPrecheck does not connect to Clio, Tabs3 or TimeSolv, so you upload a file. It does not check rate caps or daily hour caps today, and caps that need billing history across invoices are not checked either, so do those yourself. It does not decide what is billable: the responsible lawyer does. It has been tested only on invented guidelines and invoices so far.

One invoice check costs 23 credits, with packs from $25 and no subscription. Create an account to try it on a draft invoice.

Questions

How long before the deadline should the check happen?

Early enough to fix entries while the work is still fresh in the timekeeper's memory. A narrative is far easier to correct a few days after the work than at the end of the billing period.

Who should check the invoice, the lawyer or support?

Whoever owns the invoice should own the check, because a flagged entry often needs a decision from the lawyer who did the work. Support roles can prepare the list, but the responsible lawyer decides what to change.

What if a guideline rule is unclear?

Ask the client contact in writing and keep the answer with the guideline. A clarified rule that is on file is much easier to rely on than a memory of a phone call.