This article covers the following:
Understanding Invoice Appeals/Options
After you approve and pay an invoice, the law firm may dispute charges that were adjusted. There are three possible approaches for handling invoice appeals. Your organization determines which appeal options are available to the law firms you work with.
You must have the Workflow Administrator role to remove a prior approval and place an appealed invoice into a new review cycle.
1. Request a Second Invoice Review (Approve and New Cycle)
Recommended best practice (if configured for your organization).
In this scenario:
The invoice is adjusted, approved, and paid.
If the law firm disagrees with the adjustments, they contact you to discuss the disputed charge lines.
If your payment processing system allows multiple payments under the same invoice number, you can restart the review process.
You re-examine the disputed charge lines and may issue an additional payment based on the outcome.
Some organizations limit the number of appeal cycles allowed per invoice.
2. Law Firm Submits a New Invoice with Disputed Charges
In this scenario:
You review the original invoice, make adjustments, approve it, and pay the adjusted amount.
If the law firm disputes the adjustments, they contact you to discuss the affected charge lines.
If you agree to modify the outcome, you request that the law firm submit a new invoice containing only the disputed charges.
The new invoice is reviewed and approved separately.
3. Collaborative Review
Collaborative Review allows you to send adjusted invoices back to the law firm for review before final approval and payment. This option helps prevent appeals after payment.
In this workflow:
Adjusted invoices are returned to the law firm during review.
The law firm can accept or appeal specific adjustments.
A Review Required link appears in the Invoices section of the Billing panel for assigned law firm users.
All disputes are addressed prior to invoice approval.
If issues arise after payment, you may use one of the other appeal options described above.
If you do not see Collaborative Review available, it is not enabled for your organization.
Collaborative Review
Some organizations allow Collaborative Review on invoice adjustments. Once you have adjusted the invoice, it is sent back to the law firm. They will review it and appeal or accept the adjustments.
If you do not see this option available, you do not have collaborative review enabled.
Reviewing Law Firm Appeals
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Click the link in your email. The Invoice Overview page displays.
- Click the Charges tab.
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The law firm’s actions appear on each charge line. Charges adjusted by the law firm display a Resolve button.
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Resolve the charges line by line, or select each and click Resolve Appeals. The Resolve Appeal window displays.
- Click Accept Appeal or Decline Appeal. A note is required in the Decision Note field regardless of your choice.
- Click Save.
- Repeat these steps as necessary.
- Click Approve Appealed Invoice from the workflow actions buttons.