Benefits

With regards to Litigation Support, assigning cost codes to items such as discovery and litigation technology is a fundamental first step in tracking the contributions and value of a Litigation Support Department. By assigning cost codes and having the Accounting Department track these items, Litigation Support can:

• Spot cases where teams are vending discovery on their own
• Determine future firm or departmental resource needs
• Build a case for bringing types of work "in-house"
• Identify what types of litigation technology services are growing or shrinking
• Argue for better rates with vendors
• Identify how much Litigation Support billable time is "written off."

If "electronic discovery" shares a cost code with "legal research", then management receives a skewed financial picture. The book has the Litigation Support Department work with the vendors to have them incorporate the appropriate cost code into their invoices. The Accounting Department would normally have to look up this code every time an invoice arrives. Incorporating cost codes saves the firm time and can help the vendor get paid more quickly.