What types of questions do law firms ask most frequently when their e-billing invoice is rejected?

A speaker at a customer conference for users of a leading e-billing system gave some data about questions law firms asked when their invoice had been rejected. The leading cause of a question was the rules that had been invoked (about 20%), followed by “manual return,” unapproved billing rates (about 15% each), and invalid timekeepers. Block billing, math errors, and duplicate invoices made up the remainder.

What this data says to me is that law firms should make their e-billing rules explicit to their law firms. Tell them what you expect and try to drive down the number of rejections thereafter based on violated rules (See my post of Nov. 6, 2009: reports that out inside lawyers who flout e-billing rules; June 1, 2010: firms should test invoices against e-billing rules before submitting them; and June 4, 2009: e-billing rules with 6 references.).