Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard (Ledes) was key to the birth of an entirely new set of technologies and services that are today known simply as legal cost management. By using the Ledes standard, numerous US corporations have been able to ease the pains associated with e-billing.

Ledes is the standard format for moving legal invoices from law firms to corporations in the US. It was introduced in 1998 and estimates show that more than 90% of legal invoices moving electronically across all jurisdictions today move in the original Ledes 98B format.