Agenda for October 19 meeting

The following is the agenda for the October 19, 2005 meeting of the entire UTBMS Task Force, which is scheduled for 3:30 pm.

Through the courtesy of Rob Van Houser at Deloitte and the Ledes Oversight Committee, the meeting will take place at Deloitte's Washington, DC office: 555 12th St. N.W./Suite 500/Washington, DC 20004

Agenda

1. Welcome and Introductions

Brad Blickstein
Blickstein Group



2. Initiative update

- More than 90 members

- Objectives

- Schedule

- Recent events



3. Working Group Reports

Updates

- Ron Denton, ConocoPhillips

- John Kelly, Litigation Management Report


Internationalization

- Jeff Hodge, DataCert


Intellectual Property

- Domenic Leo, DataCert



4. Industry Subcommittee Reports

Insurance and Litigated Claims

- Bob Mullen, Bottomline Technologies

- John Kelly, Litigation Management Report


Investment Banking

- Jeff Hodge, DataCert
(For the Banking Legal Technologies Group, London)



5. Public Survey

-Jeff Hodge, DataCert

- Intent

- Form

-Distribution method(s)



6. Partnering (or more) with LEDES Oversight Committee

- Brad Blickstein, Blickstein Group



7. Other items
Open Discussion
Question & Answer



8. Adjournment

IP Working Group Meeting Notes

Attached is a brief summary of our discussion points the August 4, 2005 meeting of the IP Working Group. Click here for complete meeting minutes.

Organizational structure.

It was agreed that the Workgroup would be separated into two Subcommittees; Patents and Trademarks. It is anticipated that a law firm representative and a corporate representative will serve as Co-Chairs for each Subcommittee. The near-term goal is to finalize this structure by the end of August.


Recruitment.

Each attendee was asked to invite colleagues, particularly law firm attorneys or agents, to participate in the Workgroup. Individuals with ties to AIPLA, IPO, INTA, etc… would be extremely helpful. Pursuant to a suggestion made by John Etchells from AT&T, and with his help, please click here for suggested invitation language which can be utilized to invite interested parties.

Our next meeting is scheduled for August 19th at 10:00 EST.

We have formed a new sub-committee as part of the Updates Working Group. Here are the details. Please contact John Kelly or Bob Mullen for more information.

UTBMS Litigation Code Set Insurer Review Committee

Co-Chairs; Mark Puccio, V.P. Zurich Insurance, Bob Peahl, V.P. AIG

Review Committee Administrators

John G. Kelly, The Litigation Management Report (johngkelly@rogers.com)

Bob Mullen, Bottomline Technologies (rmullen@bottomline.com)

The insurance industry is the predominant user of the UTBMS Litigation Code Set, primarily for task coding of e-bills in conjunction with bill review. It is at the forefront in looking into ways and means to add value to the code set as a mechanism for comprehensive case budgeting and data management and performance measurement. A review committee consisting of major insurers has been formed, as part of the Updates Working Group of this UTBMS Task Force, to examine how the code set is presently working and how it might be best modified and updated to reflect current litigation management needs of the insurance industry. A survey is in the process of being prepared and distributed to industry stakeholders. Parties interested in participating are encouraged to contact either or both of John Kelly and Bob Mullen at the above e-mail addresses.

Slides from June 21 meeting

Here are the slides that were used at the June 21 UTBMS Task Force meeting in Chicago. Combined with the meeting notes, these should give anyone a pretty good idea what took place. Of course, if you have any questions, simply email Brad Blickstein at brad@blicksteingroup.com.

Minutes from June 21 Task Force Meeting

MINUTES - UTBMS TASK FORCE MEETING

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers - Chicago, IL

SUMMARY

The latest meeting of the UTBMS Task Force took place in conjunction with the 2005 CLT Super Conference. Moderated by Brad Blickstein, and attended by a representative sampling of industry veterans, the Task Force agreed to establish Work Groups to address three priorities:

1. international standards

2. intellectual property standards

3. updates of extant standards

The three Work Groups will be chaired by Jeff Hodge, Domenic Leo, and a team consisting of John Kelly & Ron Denton, respectively. The immediate tasks for each WG are:

· determine first of all, is there a need?

· if so, how extensive?

· draft & submit an Action Plan at October’s Task Force meeting

· complete “draft solutions” Q1 2006, with final versions nlt CLT 2006 (June)

Volunteers for each Work Group were solicited and received (see list below, which also doubles as an attendees list):

Name	Company	Email	Working Group			Note
			Int'l	IP	Upgrades
Bjarnie Anderson	Barclays (Former)	bjarnieanderson@aol.com	x
Bob Mullen	Bottomline Technologies	rmullen@bottomline.com			x
Bob Steffel	American Family Ins	rsteffel@amfam.com			x
Brad Blickstein	Blickstein Group	brad@blicksteingroup.com
Brian McCorry	DataCert	brian.mccorry@datacert.com
Domenic Leo	DataCert	domenic.leo@datacert.com
Jane Bennitt	TyMetrix, Inc.	jbennitt@tymetrix.com	x
Jeff Hodge	DataCert	jeff.hodge@datacert.com	x			(non-attendee)
John Etchells	AT&T	etchells@lga.att.com		x
John G. Kelly	The Litigation Management Report	johngkelly@rogers.com			x
Keith Brown	TyMetrix, Inc.	kbrown@tymetrix.com		x		(non-attendee)
Mike Haysley	Waste Management	maysley@wm.com			x
Paula M. Uscian	Tripoint Systems	puscian@tripoint.com		x	x
Rich Seleznov	Huron	rseleznov@huronconsulting.ca		x	x
Richard Wendelken	Johnson & Johnson			x
Rob Vosper	Corporate Legal Times
Ron Denton	Conoco Phillips	ron.r.denton@conocophillips.com			x
Steven Lauer	Integrity Interactive/OLSP	slauer@carolina.rr.com			x
Steven Levy	Microsoft	slevy@microsoft.com			x
Todd Pedwell	Standard & Poor's	todd.pedwell@sandp.com		x

The next meeting of the Task Force is to be held this October, in conjunction with the ACC Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Working groups will set their own meetings as the deem appropriate, including one for the Internationalization Working Group in London this September, exact date tba.

GENERAL

• John Kelly gave an excellent overview of the history of the original UTBMS initiatives, along with a handout, “UTBMS Backgrounder” which was distributed to participants.

• There was a fair amount of discussion about the need to “broaden involvement and participation,” rendering the Task Force’s activities more collaborative and democratic. Specifically, the dearth of law firm participation was noted as a major area of improvement. Jane Bennitt volunteered to spearhead a survey of law firms to solicit their participation on both the UTBMS Task Force and the various Work Groups & committees created. Rich Seleznov also agreed to solicit LF participation as well as that of the time & billing vendors.

• A number of participants stressed the need for uniformity, coordination, communication and avoidance of “recreating the wheel” and “over compliance.” Emphasis in the Work Groups is to be placed on simplicity and review/solicitation of existing code sets as well as industry associations’ input.

• Brad Blickstein brought up the question of funding of the Task Force, suggesting an optional fee of perhaps $100 per participating organization. After some discussion, the TF decided to enact an optional fee of $100 per participating organization.

• Rob Vosper, Executive Editor of Corporate Legal Times, sat in on around half of the meeting. He later agreed to do a short story on the effort to help in recruiting and to build credibility

• The group agreed that Brad Blickstein should continue to act as the group’s administrator and webmaster, at least for the time being.

• Ultimately, we agreed that this is a three step process: (1) Deciding what should change (2) Getting the amended and new codes to be considered a standard (3) Selling the standard, and UTBMS in general, to the marketplace.

• In terms of timeframe, our goals are:

• By next Task Force meeting (October) – Each Working Group will have an action plan and meaningful report for the group
• By the following Task Force meeting (probably early February 2006, coinciding with LegalTech) – Each Working Group will have a complete recommendation for the entire group for approval
• We hope to be done with this project by the end of 2Q 2006, although the plan is to create an ongoing organization for reviewing the UTBMS.

NEXT STEPS

• Recruitment – all Task Force members in attendance agreed to recruit other, appropriate, people onto the task force and the working groups. Jane Bennitt and Rich Seleznov agreed to spearhead this effort for law firms in particular
• Working Groups, led by Jeff Hodge, Domenic Leo, and John Kelly & Ron Denton, will reach out to their respective groups and start determining how to proceed.
• Brad Blickstein will figure out how to handle the banking, accounting and billing of the optional $100 annual charge.
• Bjarnie Anderson will reach out to his contacts at ACCA to try to get their input
• The following were tabled until the October meeting
• Should we do more to show the value of the codes in general?
• Do we need a more “professional” web presence? (Consensus is not yet, but we will when we go public with our findings.)

NOTABLE QUOTES

“The power has shifted because the data has shifted.” – Steve Lauer

“Our objective is to set things up so that when more low-hanging fruit becomes available, there’s an apple picker around!” – Brad Blickstein

The meeting began shortly after 2 p.m., and ended at approximately 4:30 p.m.

Details on this Fall’s meeting are still pending and will be made available at a later date.

SPECIAL THANKS

To Corporate Legal Times for providing the venue, Jane Bennitt and Tymetrix for providing the projector, screen and soft drinks, and Brian McCorry of DataCert for volunteering as scribe.

Updated list of Task Force members

Here's a link to the updated list of UTBMS Task Force members. This list includes the working groups that each member has volunt

Chicago meeting reminder note

Here's a copy of the reminder note for the June 21 meeting in Chicago. It went out today:

Everyone:
I just wanted to drop you a reminder note about the next meeting of the Initiative to updated the UTBMS, which will take place in Chicago next Tueaday, June 21, from 2-5pm. If you haven’t already, please rsvp me at brad@blicksteingroup.com.

Again, the Corporate Legal Times SuperConference (www.cltmag.com/superconference) starts the next morning, and our friends at CLT are graciously providing us with meeting space at the show hotel, the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. Also, if you are in-house and interested in attending the SuperConference, please let us know. We still have a limited number of complimentary passes at our disposal. (Note: This is for in-house counsel only – CLT’s strict rules.)

We will distribute a more formalized agenda at the meeting, but here are some of the topics we expect to discuss:

1. History of the original initiative

2. Discussion about creating three working groups: (1) internationalization, (2) updates and (3) intellectual property. There also seems to be a movement to create two industry subgroups: insurance and investment banking. Ideally, I think we’d like to have a point person for each.

3. Areas in which the current UTBMS codes need updating. We hope to emerge from the meeting with a draft list, and some clarity into how we will turn these into a draft of an updated code set. If possible, please come prepared with ideas about updates you would like to see. We do not expect to be overhauling any existing code sets; we are simply looking at modifying where necessary to improve usability, in keeping with the original intent of the codes.

4. Our objective is to distribute copies of all seven IP codesets being tested or in use, along with a first draft at a combined codeset. The five we know about are:

• TyMetrix 360
• DataCert
• DuPont
• Canadian Bar Association (proposed)
• 3M
• Microsoft
• General Motors

If you know of any other sets, please let me know as soon as possible. We really want to include everybody.

5. Discussion about preferred methods of process, communication, and meeting schedule, including: maximizing participation by attorneys, leadership and funding.

We are currently planning a meeting in October in Washington, D.C. around the ACC Annual Meeting and another one in London in September.

I look forward to seeing you all in Chicago next Tueaday. Please rsvp to me at brad@blicksteingroup.com at your earliest convenience.

Thanks.

Brad Blickstein

PS. We will send major updates by email, but we will continue to post them and other information at www.utbms.com.

Invitation to June 21 meeting in Chicago

The following email was sent to all members of the Initiative on May 24, 2005:

Everyone:
Thank you again for agreeing to become involved in the initiative to update and internationalize the UTBMS codes. We are off to a great start.

The report from the first meeting in Paris was very positive; everyone involved says they are more than willing to do their part.

The next Initiative meeting will be in Chicago on June 21, from 2-5pm. Please rsvp to me at brad@blicksteingroup.com.

Corporate Legal Times SuperConference (www.cltmag.com/superconference) starts the next morning, and our friends at CLT are graciously providing us with meeting space at the show hotel, the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. Also, if you are in-house and interested in attending the SuperConference, please let us know. We have a limited number of complimentary passes at our disposal. (Note: This is for in-house counsel only – CLT’s strict rules.)

We will distribute a more formalized agenda as we approach the meeting, but here are some of the topics we expect to discuss:

1. Discussion about creating three working groups: (1) internationalization, (2) updates and (3) intellectual property.

2. Areas in which the current UTBMS codes need updating. We hope to emerge from the meeting with a draft list, and some clarity into how we will turn these into a draft of an updated codeset. If possible, please come prepared with ideas about updates you would like to see.

3. Our objective is to distribute copies of all five IP codesets being tested or in use, along with a first draft at a combined codeset. The five we know about are:

• TyMetrix 360
• DataCert/Honeywell
• DuPont
• Canadian Bar Association (proposed)
• 3M

If you know of any other sets, please let me know as soon as possible. We really want to include everybody.

4. Discussion about preferred methods of communication and meeting schedule. We are currently planning a meeting in October in Washington, D.C. around the ACC Annual Meeting and another one in London in September.

I look forward to seeing you all in Chicago on June 21. Please rsvp to me at brad@blicksteingroup.com at your earliest convenience.

Thanks.

Brad Blickstein

PS. We will send major updates by email, but we will continue to post them and other information (such as the slides from the Paris meeting) at www.utbms.com.

Updated list of Initiative members

The list of Initiative members has been updated. Welcome to everybody new.

Paris Meeting Slides

The May 11 dinner meeting was a success and the minutes will be posted soon. Click here to see the presentation slides.

Initiative to Update and Internationalize the UTBMS FAQs

1. What is UTBMS? The Uniform Task-Based Management System is a budgeting and billing system designed to provide clients and law firms with meaningful cost information on legal services. It was created in the mid-1990s by a large group which included the ABA and ACCA and organized by PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP (PwC). More information can be found on the ABA website.
2. What are the main goals of the initiative?
1. Maximize opportunities for broad industry input
2. Update the UTBMS code sets to address existing weaknesses and make them more useful
3. Make the codes useful in an international context
4. Add at least an IP code set, but also address industry-specific needs (like financial services) where possible
5. Get endorsement of the new work from the ABA, ACC, and IBA.
3. Who’s behind this? The initiative was launched in March, 2005 by Jeff Hodge of DataCert, who is coordinating start-up activities. Jeff was at PwC when the original UTBMS was formed and also initiated the LEDES standardization efforts at PwC. Brad Blickstein of Blickstein Group has agreed to share organizational responsibilities, and the group is welcoming volunteers to assist. So far, representatives of more than 20 law firms, corporate law departments, consultants and vendors, from the US, UK and Europe, have joined in, including Jon Bellis, who was one of the creators of the original UTBMS, and Harry Payton of the ABA Section on Litigation.
4. Why is the initiative being launched? The industry has for some time recognized that the original codes, while useful, needed to be modified to more accurately reflect the work being performed. In the interim, the legal industry has seen a huge surge in demand for e-billing and spend-management systems. It is these systems which make the most use of the codes and their original intent. Those that have joined the initiative recognize that the codes must evolve if they are to be useful to the evolving legal industry.
5. Who are all the members? The list of everyone who has agreed to get involved in the Initiative so far can be found at our website www.utbms.com. We will frequently update this list.
6. Can others join the Initiative? Absolutely. Our goal is broad industry input and we are interested in recruiting anyone from law departments, firms, consultants or vendors who may be interested and helpful. Please contact Jeff Hodge at jeff.hodge@datacert.com or Brad Blickstein at brad@blicksteingroup.com anytime with recommendations
7. What has happened so far? So far, we’ve been gauging interest, building consensus, taking names and developing plans. The only two decisions that have been made so far are to schedule some meetings and to broaden the scope from the original mission of internationalization.
8. If the scope has been broadened past internationalization, what is the scope now? Based on our early feedback, we’ve concluded that simply internationalizing the codes is not enough. The marketplace has voiced that an intellectual property codes set is overdue, and that we should, where necessary, update the original code sets to create even more use and value. The financial services industry, for instance, has also expressed an interest that the codes should better meet their particular transactional needs.
9. When are the meetings? The kickoff meeting, which was scheduled when the mission was simply internationalization, is in Paris on May 11, 2005. If you are interested in attending Paris or in the internationalization component, please contact Jeff Hodge at jeff.hodge@datacert.com. Meetings have also been scheduled for June 21, 2005 in Chicago (one day before the Corporate Legal Times SuperConference) and around October 17 in Washington, DC (to coincide with the ACC Annual Meeting). More details about Chicago and Washington will be coming shortly, but these two meetings will be more broadly focused on updates, IP and other industry-specific concerns raised.
10. What if I can’t make the first meeting? Don’t worry. The objective of this first meeting in Paris is really to gather facts and gauge specific interest around the internationalization effort. We’ll be continuing to do this even after the meeting. Whether or not you attend, you will have every opportunity to have your voice heard and get involved in a meaningful way. By the time of the Chicago meeting, we hope to have a plan outlined, subcommittees identified, etc. We will more formally kick off the broader initiative there.
11. Haven’t some companies already developed an IP code set for their own use? Yes, there are currently at least two prototypes, one being tested by some DataCert clients, and one being developed by a small group of other law departments, including DuPont and Intel. The objective of the initiative is a standard set of codes. We feel urgency to bring everyone who has been working on this into the tent and are working hard to do so. Domenic Leo, DataCert’s Vice President of IP Business Development, has volunteered to organize this effort.
12. Is this a DataCert initiative? While it’s true that Jeff Hodge of DataCert initialized this effort, our objective is to create standards that all firms, departments, and vendors can use. Representatives from all major e-billing and matter management companies have been invited and most have already agreed to participate. Leadership roles are for whomever is interested in volunteering. The model is being very closely based on the highly successful LEDES standard effort and the spirit of partnering to address an industry need exhibited there.
13. Will there be a central location that we can go to get the most up to date information, see drafts, etc? Yes. We have built a website at www.utbms.com to store and communicate this type of information. Currently, the site is technically a blog, which is particularly well-suited to easily storing written information, but we will likely change format and “pretty it up” soon, especially if some member is willing to volunteer as webmaster.
14. How can I find out more about UTBMS? There is some great information at the ABA website. Our own website, www.utbms.com has some links to some more good information.
15. Who should I contact for more information? Feel free to contact Jeff Hodge at jeff.hodge@datacert.com or Brad Blickstein at brad@blicksteingroup.com anytime. Jeff is based in London and Brad is based outside of Chicago.

Potentially helpful documents

Here are links to a couple of potentially helpful documents. One is an article from 2002 on Task Based Billing. The other is a UTBMS Starter Kit that was put together back in 1998. (NOTE: There may be some obsolete information on either or both.) Taken together, these two documents should provide a good basic understanding of UTBMS.

Initiative Members

Here is a link to the list of people who have agreed to assist with this Initiative. We are continuously recruiting more members, and will update this page frequently.
If you would like to recommend people to join the Initiative, please email Brad Blickstein or Jeff Hodge anytime.

Legal Technology Insider article

Here's a short article that ran about the Initiative in Legal Technology Insider.

The second invitation email from Jeff Hodge, sent 4/13/05

All,



If you are receiving this follow-on message before the original message it is either because of an oversight or because other invitees have suggested you be invited to join us. Welcome!



I wanted to follow the original message (below) and welcome the very positive response thus far and invite the remainder of you to indicate your interest or lack thereof. Apologies if I have not yet returned your calls or emails as I have just relocated to the UK and have had difficulties in getting communications established. I will be getting back to you before week’s end.



Since my original invitation, the ABA Litigation Section has asked to be involved with a seat at the table. I will make clear on their behalf that the focus of this initiative is not only the internationalization of the codes, but an update/refinement of the existing codes to make them more useful than present to all users. At some point we will obviously want to request the ABA’s endorsement of our work as well as that of other key stakeholders. You will recall the ABA’s formative leadership, along with PwC and others, in the original UTBMS initiative and we welcome their support. I am reaching out to the ACC and the IBA as well and expect they will be interested in assisting. If any of you can provide help with these organizations please let me know. Two additional legal vendors have asked to join us as well.



I will send out an update next week with additional details. In advance of that correspondence, please note:



1. All future correspondence will be directed to each of you openly. If this is an issue for you, please let me know. If you wish to be taken off of this list, please reply to this email and advise.
2. It is our intention to hold additional meetings following this initial one in Paris on May 11th; this to make it as convenient as possible for the majority of the group. Can you suggest cities in both Europe and the US, and possibly dates (perhaps in conjunction with other events), that would help in your own planning.
3. Two US corporations have expressed their interest in the introduction of an IP code set to accompany the existing code sets. Both are working from a prototype of an IP code set that seems logical for the group to look at. If you are aware of other areas that should be addressed, please advise.



Finally, let me make clear that while I am sure there is nothing we would like more than a quick turnaround of a reissued UTBMS code set, I expect this is likely an effort we will not complete in 2005, but I do think we can get a good start. This is important work that I think we all agree should take its time.



Thanks again for interest in the topic.



Kind regards,



Jeff