Any company tasked with servicing a network of outside legal counsel knows the challenges of tediously ambling through mountains of legal invoices for legal bill review. Not only is this process incredibly time consuming, but it is also prone to errors that are inevitable with repetitive tasks.

Insurance companies especially feel the weight of this burden due to their substantial employment of outside counsel. Bills in all different formats are sent in and employees will manually compare them with the company’s billing guidelines, keeping in mind prior agreements made with law firms to ensure line items are in compliance. Each invoice must be checked to make sure only authorized personnel appear on the bill and that it reflects the agreed-upon rates. Again, this process takes a long amount of time and expends otherwise unnecessary resources.

Technology offers a solution to these issues. By automating even part of the process, lawyers are able to circumvent the need to manually examine everything. The current challenge is, even though there are a number of programs specifically targeted at streamlining legal billing, companies have not prioritized it. It simply is not at the top of their to-do lists, and even when programs are used, it is done so inconsistently. Most don’t realize the savings gained, nor do they think about how they add up.

Legal bill review, a service produced by LSG introduces machine learning applications in litigation spend management. The program facilitates employees in the review of legal invoices received by insurance companies, factoring in company guidelines and agreements between a law firm and an insurance company. It also provides clients the data to see precise areas where law firms can push back and save money. Upon implementing this service, a recent client has found an average of 12% savings per invoice, just as one example. Another, saw savings of $487 million over the last four years.

Technology-enabled legal bill review is a much more reliable method of legal billing than exclusively doing it manually. Litigation spend reports are significantly more accurate, and the technology is flexible, and can be molded to fit the needs of each client.

LBR also plays a major role in the regulation of legal fees.

Using this billing service will also be an improvement on current billing practices. Because the process is so mind-numbingly slow, many lawyers have been found to roll the dice and hope their clients aren’t meticulous auditors. But the fact is, people are increasingly unwilling to blindly accept high legal fees. Adapting to the shifting general mentality will be vital in keeping up with the competition and implementing this service will be a significant step in doing so.

To explore whether we could help your organization with legal bill review, reach out to me at msm@lsg.com