About UTBMS codes

Uniform Task Based Management System (UTBMS) is a series of codes developed by the American Bar Association (ABA) to classify legal services the law firm performs and submits as Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard (LEDES) invoices.
The codes are broken down into the following categories:
  • Expense codes
    are used for expenses on matters, such as making copies.
    • Expense
    • Patent and trademark
    • Revised
  • Task codes
    are used to describe the service provided by an area of law, such as L240 - Dispositive Motions for research regarding duty to warn for summary judgment motion.
    • Bankruptcy
    • Counseling
    • EW civil litigation
    • Litigation
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Project
    • Patent
    • Trademark
  • Activity codes
    are used to identify the specific service performed, such as I wrote something, I spoke with someone. Very few clients require activity codes.
    • Original
    • Revised
An updated listing of UTBMS codes can be found at utbms.com.