Release 18.128 - August 2018 – Legalsense

The update of Legalsense of August 2018 (18.128) contains two relatively large changes to 'Rates' and 'Multi-currency' support. We briefly discuss these changes first and then list all other changes per category.

Rates

All rates in Legalsense can now be set with a begin and end date. These date fields were previously already available for the global rates of users (personal rates) and functions (function rates) but can now also be set on a rate per client or per matter for a user, function or activity or for a blended/fixed rate. For more information on how to set rates, see "Rates and Pricing schemes in Legalsense".

Multicurrency

This only applies to installations where the options for multi-currency are available. In this update, we change the way you can set exchange rates in Legalsense. Previously you were asked to supply an exchange rate on every invoice that was in a different currency. If you did not supply the exchange rate, you couldn't finalize the invoice and upon finalizing the invoice you were asked to confirm the exchange rate again. The setting of exchange rates has now been centralized and moved to 'Settings' - 'Billing' - 'Exchange rates'. For every currency you use, you will find a list of exchange rates with a start date. The exchange rates have been pre-filled based on the past rates that you have used on your invoices. This exchange rate will be automatically applied to your invoices (in that currency).
For more information on multi-currency see: "Multi-currency"

Time

A 'previous', 'next' and 'today' button have been added to the 'Per day' time entry view. A warning will be displayed when you have unsaved changes on the page and press these buttons or change the date.
On the time entry forms, you can only save a time entry once and the 'submit' button will display a 'spinner' icon until it is saved. Double clicking the 'save' button sometimes led to multiple time entries being saved.
A comment field (for internal comments/notes) is now available on the time entry forms. This allows you to add an internal comment that will also be displayed on the draft invoice (if your invoice template is using the default setup for this).

Contact/Client/Matter

The debtor number of contacts that are debtors is displayed in the contact list. You can also search by debtor number with the 'quick search' at the top of the contact list or by using 'Advanced search'.
The email address that can be set on the Matter - debtor relationship (for each debtor on a matter) can be any email address available on the contact (not just the email addresses that have the 'billing to' or 'billing cc' value).
On a contact person (either a contact person of an organization or a natural person) you can set a "mailing option" value (text) that will be automatically added above the address on the invoices and generated documents. This can for instance be used to add 'Personal and confidential' to the top address label.
A field for 'Archivable' has been added to the advanced search for contacts. This allows you to search for contacts that can be archived.
The Matter archive number field can now be hidden from the matter list when this field is not in use at your firm.
The Matter archive number field is also available on the Advanced search form (for archived / all matters).
Archiving a matter is blocked when there are still trust accounting amounts open (based on the values from the accounting software).
It is possible to delete an engagement letter (attachment) that was added to Legalsense.

Billing

When finalizing invoices you will be asked to confirm this action.
A 'finalized at' date (and time) will be set when finalizing an invoice.
When creating multiple invoices, you can specify a minimum billing amount (threshold). This allows you for example to only create invoices for matters with a certain amount of unbilled fees (work in progress) in the selected period. If other items are found to be invoiced (e.g. disbursements) the value will be ignored for that matter and an invoice will always be created.
The invoice number field is an editable field in Legalsense (but needs to match the numbering scheme/mask that has been set). The editing of the invoice number can be restricted to certain users with a new permission that has been added. Please note that users with limited permissions that are editing an invoice as a workflow task now generally do not have the permission to edit the invoice number anymore.
The send button when sending an invoice by email can only be pressed once until the sending is complete. You can't accidentally press it multiple times anymore.
The advance overview and advances per matter can be exported to Excel and extra information has been added to the advances per matter table.
For LEDES exports of invoices that have a discount applied, the discount is now distributed correctly over the LEDES rows (with use of the 'line_item_adjustment_amount' column).
The task list and task overview shows you the total tasks at the bottom of the table.
The task overview (list of tasks) can be exported to Excel.
When viewing deleted invoices in the workflow, you can also view the snapshots of that deleted invoice.

Reporting

The following fields have been added to the reporting builder:
- Matter name - without the number (grouping)
- Practice group matter supervisor (grouping)
- Time entry modified date, creation date and database modified date
- Debtor number (grouping)
- Finalization date of invoice
The performance of the reports has been improved by making the loading of certain filters (e.g. client or debtor) more efficient.
Grouping values for invoices, clients, debtors or matters are now clickable.
An optional practice group dashboard has been added that shows values for the current practice group you are part of. There is a separate permission that Legalsense support can add to specific groups for you in order to allow you to view this dashboard. The permission is added by default to the Reporting group.
A description and a comment field have been added to the reports in the report builder. The text of those fields will be displayed with the reports and allow you to add a description and/or comments for other users of your firm.
When a report in the report builder does not load anymore because something went wrong with loading the results, you can still edit the structure of the report. The report itself will display an error message that contains a reference which you use in your communication with Legalsense support.

Users

A new field 'employee number' is available for a user.
An option to only export the active users has been added to the Excel export of user groups that lists the users per group and the groups per user (under 'Users - Groups').

Disbursements

The disbursement list and search result are now paginated: when there are more than 500 results, the results are split over several pages.
Writing off disbursements has been tied to a separate permission. Contact Legalsense if you would like to set this permission separately for specific users.

Financial accounting

An optional export (format) to Asperion https://www.asperion.nl/ is now available. Please contact Legalsense if you would like a quote for setting up this export option.
A BIC field has been added for creditors. This only applies to firms who use Legalsense to create new creditors. When using the integration between Legalsense and Twinfield and creating creditors in Legalsense, you need the BIC field if you want to add a foreign IBAN account for the creditor.

API

Changes in the Legalsense REST API

Added an API endpoint for Functions (job titles)
Added an API endpoint for Referrers
Added an API endpoint for Practice areas
Added an API endpoint for (leverage) Teams
Added an API endpoint for Matter debtors (debtors set per matter)
Added an API endpoint for Offices (office locations)
Added an API endpoint for budgets (budgets set per matter)
Added an API endpoint for Matter types
Users can be filters by active/inactive status. Added Begin and End date fields to the User Endpoint.
Invoices can be downloaded from the API
Invoice API field 'content_type' and 'content_type_id' have been deprecated. Their is a 'type' field available on in the Invoice Endpoint that is meant to replace the 'content_type' value.
The Time Entry Endpoint has been extended with more amount fields.

Changes in APIv1

The fields 'begin date' and 'end date' are available for Users.