E-billing for outside counsel invoices

E-billing software for in-house
legal teams

E-billing software for in-house
legal teams

E-billing software for in-house
legal teams

Receive every outside counsel invoice as structured line-item data. As an invoice arrives, AI reviews each line item and it's routed through your approval chain. Your outside counsel can keep submitting in the format they use today.

Receive every outside counsel invoice as structured line-item data. As an invoice arrives, AI reviews each line item and it's routed through your approval chain. Your outside counsel can keep submitting in the format they use today.

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Book a demo

See pricing

Poppy Legal dashboard of outside counsel spend over the last twelve months, with an e-billing invoice list showing each invoice’s approval status
Poppy Legal monthly spend summary showing unbilled, pending and approved outside counsel spend, with AI invoice-level flags and Ask Poppy
Poppy Legal dashboard of outside counsel spend over the last twelve months, with an e-billing invoice list showing each invoice’s approval status
Poppy Legal monthly spend summary showing unbilled, pending and approved outside counsel spend, with AI invoice-level flags and Ask Poppy

Trusted by in-house legal teams at

E-billing, defined

What is legal e-billing?

E-billing (or ebilling) is how in-house legal teams receive, check, and approve outside counsel invoices electronically. In corporate legal departments, each invoice becomes line-item data, is checked against billing guidelines, and is approved before payment.

Firms record time and send invoices with law firm billing software. Legal e-billing software sits on the receiving side.

E-billing handles each invoice; legal spend management works across all of them. Poppy does both: it's e-billing and legal spend management software for in-house legal teams.

How does it work?

How legal e-billing works in Poppy

Six steps take each invoice from submission to accounts payable.

01

Submit

Your outside counsel send a LEDES file, use the firm submission portal, or email a PDF.

02

Extract

Each invoice becomes structured line-item data, and resubmitted invoices are caught.

03

Review

AI checks every line against your billing guidelines.

04

Approve

Each invoice goes to the approvers your rules require.

05

Resolve

Adjust the invoice directly or send line-level disputes to the firm for revision and resubmission.

06

Hand off

Approved invoices go to accounts payable, and the same data feeds accruals, budgets, and reporting.

Will our firms adopt it?

How outside counsel invoices reach you: LEDES, portal or email

Each firm uses the route that fits how it bills today: LEDES e-billing, the firm submission portal, or email.

LEDES files

LEDES (the Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard) is the structured invoice file many firms already produce. Those firms can submit it directly.

Firm submission portal

Firms upload invoices with supporting documents, so the backup arrives with the bill.

Email and ordinary PDFs

Firms email invoices to Poppy, or your team forwards the ones that reach its inbox. Firms can keep emailing ordinary PDFs. No firm onboarding required.

Outside counsel invoices in Poppy Legal, pending, processing and ready for review

Whichever route a firm uses, Poppy captures every timekeeper, rate, hour, expense, and matter. It reads invoices across currencies, languages, and non-Latin scripts.

“Onboarding was a breeze. Law firms easily made the switch.”

VP, Deputy General Counsel, verified G2 review, May 2026

What does review catch?

AI invoice review built on your billing guidelines

Poppy’s AI flags issues in minutes, each tied to the lines behind it. Your reviewers decide whether to approve, question, or negotiate.

Guideline flags

Summaries and Q&A

Negotiation briefs

Poppy Legal review findings flagging a mid-matter partner rate increase and administrative work billed at attorney rates

Guideline flags

Every entry checked against your rules

Poppy flags block billing, vague entries, rate changes, administrative work and more against your billing guidelines. Add your own review questions, and Poppy applies them to every invoice.

Guideline flags

Summaries and Q&A

Negotiation briefs

Poppy Legal review findings flagging a mid-matter partner rate increase and administrative work billed at attorney rates

Guideline flags

Every entry checked against your rules

Poppy flags block billing, vague entries, rate changes, administrative work and more against your billing guidelines. Add your own review questions, and Poppy applies them to every invoice.

No formal guidelines yet? Start from our free sample legal billing guidelines and editable template, or our free legal invoice review checklist.

WHAT CUSTOMERS SAY

Control and visibility, in our customers’ words

Rated 4.9 out of 5 on G2 by in-house legal teams. Read the reviews on G2.

“It immediately paid for itself through the billing review for a single matter.”

Enterprise legal team, verified G2 review, May 2026

“Before Poppy, it was nearly impossible to get a comprehensive understanding of spend. It makes it easier to see exactly where the dollars are going and which OC and individuals are providing the most value.”

Derek Lowrey, Head of Legal, Newton Labs

“Poppy is incredibly easy to use. It’s great for getting a view of how we spend our budget, how we should allocate resources, and where we should push back on bills.”

Katie Dunne, Deputy GC, Crate & Barrel

What happens after review?

Approvals, disputes and the handoff to accounts payable

Every step from the first flag to accounts payable.

STEP

HOW IT WORKS IN POPPY

Multi-step approvals

Poppy routes invoices by your rules for amount, workflow, firm, and matter, with reminders. A versioned audit log records every approval.

Adjust the invoice yourself

Poppy will adjust outside counsel invoices to bring them into compliance, and automatically notify counsel of the changes.

Disputes tied to the line

Poppy drafts replies to counsel for your team to edit and send. Approvals keep moving while disputes are tracked.

Revised invoices

Poppy links each corrected invoice to the version it replaces. Negotiated credits stay traceable.

AP-ready handoff

Poppy passes fully approved invoices to accounts payable by export or integration.

What does Finance get?

Accruals, budgets and spend analytics for Legal and Finance

Firm accruals start from outside counsel’s estimates of unbilled work and decrease as invoices arrive. Poppy allocates each invoice to your configured categories. Budgets can be organization-wide or by firm, matter, or category, with threshold alerts.

Analytics show approved, pending, and unbilled spend in your home currency, with rates, hours, and trends by firm, matter, and timekeeper. See all budget, accrual, and reporting features.

Poppy Legal outside counsel spend allocated by department and line of business

Will it pass security review?

Enterprise controls for outside counsel invoice data

In the Trust Center, request the SOC 2 Type II report and review policies, controls, and subprocessors.

SOC 2 Type II audited

An independent auditor has tested Poppy’s controls, and Poppy is GDPR compliant. The Trust Center lists penetration testing and tested continuity and disaster recovery plans.

Single sign-on

Sign in through Microsoft Entra ID, Google Workspace, or Okta, included in every subscription.

Roles and permissions

Reviewers, approvers, and Finance users each get least-privilege access for their role.

Invoice and approval audit log

Poppy logs every change to invoices, approvals, and rates as a version, so any approval can be traced.

AI and your data

No AI model, Poppy’s or a third party’s, is trained on your invoices. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest.

Connected systems

API and MCP integrations connect invoice and spend data to your enterprise systems and data platforms.

Explore Poppy Security

Visit the Trust Center

Will it pass security review?

Enterprise controls for outside counsel invoice data

In the Trust Center, request the SOC 2 Type II report and review policies, controls, and subprocessors.

SOC 2 Type II audited

An independent auditor has tested Poppy’s controls, and Poppy is GDPR compliant. The Trust Center lists penetration testing and tested continuity and disaster recovery plans.

Single sign-on

Sign in through Microsoft Entra ID, Google Workspace, or Okta, included in every subscription.

Roles and permissions

Reviewers, approvers, and Finance users each get least-privilege access for their role.

Invoice and approval audit log

Poppy logs every change to invoices, approvals, and rates as a version, so any approval can be traced.

AI and your data

No AI model, Poppy’s or a third party’s, is trained on your invoices. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest.

Connected systems

API and MCP integrations connect invoice and spend data to your enterprise systems and data platforms.

Explore Poppy Security

Visit the Trust Center

How long will it take?

Going live with e-billing in Poppy

Implementation and ongoing support are included, and a year of historical invoices is imported free. Your firms keep billing as they do today. Most teams are live in days to a few weeks.

Starting from email and spreadsheets

Firms can email invoices straight to Poppy instead of an inbox. Your team sets the billing guidelines and approval chain.

Switching from another e-billing system

Poppy scopes any non-standard migration needs before you commit.

Book a demo

Poppy delivered real impact without a heavy lift. It took very little time to implement, and the visibility we have now into our spend has completely changed how we operate. We love Poppy!

Lisa Salinas

General Counsel, SpyCloud

Lisa Salinas

Poppy delivered real impact without a heavy lift. It took very little time to implement, and the visibility we have now into our spend has completely changed how we operate. We love Poppy!

Lisa Salinas

General Counsel, SpyCloud

Lisa Salinas

ALREADY ON ANOTHER E-BILLING PLATFORM?

How Poppy compares with four other e-billing platforms

POPPY VS

Legal Tracker

In its UK G-Cloud listing, Thomson Reuters describes a typical Legal Tracker implementation as three months.

POPPY VS

Brightflag

Per Brightflag’s help center, invoices become reviewable within 24 to 48 hours. A Forrester study Brightflag commissioned puts average go-live at 6 to 10 weeks.

POPPY VS

SimpleLegal

Onit retired the standalone SimpleLegal website and brand into onit.com in March 2026, and says the product remains fully supported.

POPPY VS

CounselLink

LexisNexis CounselLink is a full enterprise legal management suite. Poppy covers e-billing and legal spend management, not matter management.

Comparison facts last verified August 30, 2026. Sources are listed on each comparison page.

Questions about legal e-billing software

What in-house legal, Finance, and IT teams ask before choosing an e-billing platform.

What does e-billing in Poppy include?

Poppy’s e-billing covers outside counsel invoices from submission to accounts payable: intake by LEDES file, firm submission portal, or email; line-by-line AI review against your billing guidelines; multi-step approvals; and dispute and revised-invoice tracking.

What does e-billing in Poppy include?

Poppy’s e-billing covers outside counsel invoices from submission to accounts payable: intake by LEDES file, firm submission portal, or email; line-by-line AI review against your billing guidelines; multi-step approvals; and dispute and revised-invoice tracking.

How is legal e-billing software different from law firm billing software?

Firms send invoices from law firm billing software, and in-house legal teams receive, check, and approve them in legal e-billing software. Poppy is built for the in-house side.

How is legal e-billing software different from law firm billing software?

Firms send invoices from law firm billing software, and in-house legal teams receive, check, and approve them in legal e-billing software. Poppy is built for the in-house side.

Do law firms have to use LEDES?

No, LEDES is optional: firms can also use the firm submission portal or keep emailing PDFs. Every route produces the same line-item record.

Do law firms have to use LEDES?

No, LEDES is optional: firms can also use the firm submission portal or keep emailing PDFs. Every route produces the same line-item record.

Our outside counsel invoices arrive by email today. What changes?

Your outside counsel can keep emailing PDFs. The change is on your side: each invoice arrives as line-item data, checked against your billing guidelines and routed to your approvers.

Our outside counsel invoices arrive by email today. What changes?

Your outside counsel can keep emailing PDFs. The change is on your side: each invoice arrives as line-item data, checked against your billing guidelines and routed to your approvers.

What if we don’t have formal billing guidelines yet?

Adapt Poppy’s free sample legal billing guidelines and editable Word template to your department. Poppy checks every invoice line against your guidelines.

What if we don’t have formal billing guidelines yet?

Adapt Poppy’s free sample legal billing guidelines and editable Word template to your department. Poppy checks every invoice line against your guidelines.

Who decides whether an invoice is approved?

Your reviewers do. Poppy flags and prioritizes issues, each linked to its line items. Approving, questioning, or negotiating is their call.

Who decides whether an invoice is approved?

Your reviewers do. Poppy flags and prioritizes issues, each linked to its line items. Approving, questioning, or negotiating is their call.

How do approved invoices reach accounts payable?

Once the last approver signs off, Poppy sends the invoice to accounts payable by export or integration.

How do approved invoices reach accounts payable?

Once the last approver signs off, Poppy sends the invoice to accounts payable by export or integration.

How long does it take to switch from another e-billing system?

Most teams are live in days to a few weeks, with complex workflows at the longer end. Firms can keep their current invoice format. Poppy scopes non-standard migration needs before you commit.

How long does it take to switch from another e-billing system?

Most teams are live in days to a few weeks, with complex workflows at the longer end. Firms can keep their current invoice format. Poppy scopes non-standard migration needs before you commit.

How is invoice data protected when AI reviews it?

Invoice data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and never used to train Poppy’s or third-party AI models. Poppy is SOC 2 Type II audited and GDPR compliant.

How is invoice data protected when AI reviews it?

Invoice data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and never used to train Poppy’s or third-party AI models. Poppy is SOC 2 Type II audited and GDPR compliant.

How is Poppy’s e-billing software priced?

Poppy is priced by annual outside counsel spend. Each $2 million tier has one flat subscription price, and pricing above $20 million is custom. Every tier includes e-billing and every other feature, with no overage fees or retroactive true-ups. Tier prices are listed on the pricing page.

How is Poppy’s e-billing software priced?

Poppy is priced by annual outside counsel spend. Each $2 million tier has one flat subscription price, and pricing above $20 million is custom. Every tier includes e-billing and every other feature, with no overage fees or retroactive true-ups. Tier prices are listed on the pricing page.

See how Poppy would handle your outside counsel invoices

A 30-minute session tailored to your team covers intake, AI invoice review, approvals, and the handoff to Finance. Bring your questions or requirements list.

Book a demo