Corporate Legal Departments Extend Legal Spend Management To Meet International Billing Requirements

HOUSTON, May 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As electronic invoicing and legal spend management solutions continue to be adopted in Europe and beyond, U.S. corporate legal departments are also taking their ebilling and spend management implementations international.  A new report, written by international ebilling authority Jeff Hodge and sponsored by Bridgeway Software, reveals that what used to be a complex and sometimes perplexing exercise has now become routine.  In fact, legal departments are extending ebilling and spend management implementations to legal teams outside of the U.S. in order to comply with value added tax (VAT) legislation and streamline their invoicing and payment processes.

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"We process 50,000+ invoices a year in Bridgeway's eCounsel, 43% of which are from vendors outside of the U.S.  We anticipate these numbers will continue rising over the coming years," commented Debbie Siedlecki, Finance Supervisor, Legal Finance, Abbott Laboratories.

However, implementing legal spend globally still requires significant domain knowledge and expertise.  To help corporate legal departments understand how to implement ebilling and spend management in an international environment, Jeff Hodge and Bridgeway will host a webinar on May 17th at 1:00 pm EDT titled, Legal Spend Management: Taking It Global.  

The online presentation will focus on the intricacies of value added tax (VAT), security and privacy, with an emphasis on Europe and the ever present intangibles that mark successful implementations of legal spend management abroad.  Best practices for legal spend management will be discussed and all participants will receive a complimentary copy of the report titled Legal Spend Management: An International Perspective.  There is no cost to attend and registration is required: http://bit.ly/IFx4Hw

"What we found is that many of these implementation best practices are applicable to nearly any situation while others are more situation-specific and require a combination of technology and industry know-how," said Jeff Hodge, Principal at Law Department Associates (LDA). "Spend management vendors such as Bridgeway, understand the global marketplace. For example, they know international law departments and firms are well positioned to drive more innovation and country-specific functional requirements, and repeat the predominance they have shown within US corporate law departments."

About Bridgeway
Bridgeway is dedicated to providing software solutions and professional services to implement best practices for the offices of the general counsel and corporate secretary. Most recommended by clients, Bridgeway enables leading corporations and government agencies to optimize productivity, reduce cost, and mitigate risk with an integrated technology approach for legal services management. Bridgeway implements systems in the areas of matter and case management, electronic invoicing, cost management, corporate governance, contract management, litigation risk assessment, and entity management. Founded in 1989, the company is headquartered in Houston, Texas with representative offices in Philadelphia and Toronto. More information about eCounsel®, LawManager®, Smart Invoice,  Corridor™, Bridgeway Legal Hold, and Secretariat® is available at www.bridge-way.com or by calling 888-272-4699.

SOURCE Bridgeway Software