Professional secrecy and Peppol: How Law firms can prepare for 2026
How Law firms can prepare for 2026
The legal world is about to face one of its biggest administrative changes in decades. From January 1, 2026, all VAT-registered businesses in Belgium, including law firms, will be required to send and receive B2B invoices electronically via the Peppol network. For most sectors, this shift is a matter of compliance and efficiency. For lawyers, however, it touches something much deeper: professional secrecy. Because when your work is built on confidentiality, even an invoice deserves careful thought.
Why Peppol matters
Peppol is a secure digital network for exchanging structured invoices and financial documents. Instead of emailing PDFs, invoices are sent as data: verified, encrypted, and instantly readable by accounting systems. It’s faster, cleaner, and more accurate. But it’s also more transparent and that’s exactly where the challenge begins for law firms. When an invoice becomes structured data, every field can, in theory, be processed by external platforms. That’s fine for most industries, but law firms deal with information that’s not just sensitive, it’s legally protected.
The confidentiality challenge
Professional secrecy is the cornerstone of legal practice. Everything a lawyer learns from a client must remain confidential, including what’s hidden between the lines of an invoice. Yet many law firms still describe their services in detail: “advice on acquisition of X Ltd.” or “legal assistance in dispute with Y SA.” In the context of Peppol, that kind of wording could unintentionally expose case information to third-party systems or even government intermediaries. That’s why the Flemish Bar Association (Orde van Vlaamse Balies) recently advised firms to review how they handle e-invoicing. It’s not enough to switch to digital, invoices must also be professionally discreet.
The safest approach?
Keep your Peppol invoice generic, e.g. “legal services” or “fees and expenses” and send any detailed breakdown (timesheets, cost statements, or performance sheets) via a separate, secure channel. That way, your firm remains fully compliant while preserving the integrity of client confidentiality.
The self-billing factor: an overlooked risk
Beyond client invoicing, another practice in the legal world is quickly coming into focus: self-billing. Many firms work with independent lawyers or partners who have their own VAT number. Instead of waiting for each of them to send an invoice, the firm issues it on their behalf, a convenient arrangement that simplifies administration. But from 2026, those self-billing invoices must also go through Peppol. That means they must follow the Peppol BIS Self-Billing 3.0 format and comply with the European standard EN 16931, while still respecting confidentiality and GDPR requirements. In other words: even internal or partner-related invoices can no longer remain “offline.” Every part of the invoicing process will become digital and that makes a secure, unified approach essential.
How leading firms are preparing
Forward-looking law firms are using the upcoming Peppol obligation as a chance to modernise their entire billing ecosystem. Instead of managing separate flows, one for clients, another for partners, they’re moving toward one structured, automated process that covers both external and internal invoices.
The advantage goes far beyond compliance:
Fewer manual steps, fewer mistakes.
Faster payments and cleaner reporting.
And most importantly, a system that respects the profession’s most sacred rule, confidentiality.
This shift is not about bureaucracy; it’s about trust and efficiency coexisting in a digital environment.
How NORRIQ supports the Legal sector
At NORRIQ, we’ve translated these needs into a concrete solution for law firms. Our solution for Legal platform automates invoicing, whether it’s client billing, internal flows, or self-billing and ensures that every document meets both Peppol and confidentiality standards. Each invoice follows the correct XML structure, sent securely via certified Peppol access points. Sensitive data is never exposed. The platform even separates invoice summaries from detailed attachments, ensuring that the Peppol file contains only essential information, while confidential details stay within your control. In short: compliance by design, with professional secrecy built into every step.
Turning compliance into confidence
The countdown to 2026 is underway, but this isn’t just a regulatory hurdle, it’s an opportunity. Peppol can bring law firms into a new era of clarity, consistency, and digital confidence, as long as it’s implemented with discretion. By combining smart technology with legal ethics, your firm can achieve both: full compliance, and full control over what remains confidential.
Because in the end, Peppol isn’t just about e-invoicing.
It’s about showing that your firm is ready for the future, without ever compromising the trust at the heart of your profession.
