The rules of a live round

What a live round is

On Counsel Bids a buyer asks several law firms to quote for the same piece of work and compares the quotes side by side. The buyer chooses, request by request, how firms quote.

• Sealed round (the usual choice): each firm quotes once. Nobody sees anyone else's price. The buyer sees the quotes when the round closes.
• Live round: each firm first sends a full quote in the usual format, sealed, by a qualifying deadline. Then, in a short scheduled window (30 minutes as standard), each firm may lower its fixed fee as often as it likes and sees only its own rank. When the window closes the buyer compares the final quotes exactly as in a sealed round.

Live rounds are for well-defined, repeatable work where the scope can be fixed in a template: for example a non-disclosure agreement, a review of standard customer terms, a supplier contract template, an employment policy update or a trade mark filing. They are not for disputes or tailored advice. In the pilot a live round can only be run from one of the platform's templates.

Two words used below. A firm's charity pledge is the share of its fee, at least 0.5%, that it promises to legal charities if it wins the work. A firm's rank is its position by fee among the firms in the window, such as “2nd of 4”.

The rules in brief

During the window a firm can only lower its fixed fee, by at least £50 or 1% of its current fee, whichever is greater. It can raise its charity pledge but never lower it. Everything else in its quote is locked.

Each firm sees only its own rank, never another firm's fee or name. If a firm lowers its fee in the last five minutes, the window stays open for five more minutes from that change, up to thirty extra minutes in all. The buyer is never obliged to choose the lowest fee.

The rules in full

These rules are shown, word for word, to a buyer setting up a live round and to a firm before it registers interest.

1. A live round is for a request started from a template, with a fixed fee, that goes to the firms the buyer invites (Closed) or to those firms plus verified firms matched to the request by practice area (Extended). It is never open to every firm.
2. Firms qualify by sending a complete quote in the standard quote form, sealed, by the qualifying deadline: fee, assumptions, exclusions, team, timing, an answer to every criterion and a charity pledge. A firm that misses the deadline cannot join the window.
3. The window opens only if at least three firms qualify. With fewer, the round becomes a sealed round at the qualifying deadline and everyone is told why.
4. The window opens and closes on the platform's clock, not on anyone's screen. The buyer chooses when it starts (on a weekday between 8:00 and 18:00 UK time, at least one working day after the request is sent, and at least two hours after the qualifying deadline) and how long it runs: 20, 30 or 45 minutes.
5. During the window a firm may lower its total fixed fee as often as it likes, each time by at least the greater of £50 or 1% of its current fee, and confirms each change. It may raise its pledge, never lower it. Scope, assumptions, exclusions and team are locked.
6. A firm sees the countdown, its current fee, how many changes it has made and its own rank, such as 2nd of 4 (if two firms reach the same fee, the one that got there first ranks higher). It never sees another firm's fee, name, the gap to the leader or another firm's changes.
7. If a firm lowers its fee in the last five minutes, the window stays open for five more minutes from that change. This can add up to thirty extra minutes in all.
8. Before the window opens, a firm may set a sealed lowest fee. Then, whenever it is not ranked first, the platform lowers its fee by the minimum step, never below that floor, and records each step as the platform's. A firm that cannot use the screen may ask staff to enter a change for it, under the same rules, recorded as staff-entered. Nobody is told a firm's floor.
9. During the window the buyer sees the countdown, how many firms are taking part, the current lowest fee and the number of changes so far. No fee is linked to a firm until the window closes.
10. Every change is logged with its own fingerprint (a code that would show if the record were altered), and the round record issued at the close lists them all. The buyer's decision record shows each firm's opening and final fee.
11. When the window closes the buyer compares the final quotes exactly as in a sealed round, and chooses on best value. The buyer is never obliged to choose the lowest fee.

Why the rules are set this way

• No firm sees another firm's price or name, before, during or after the window. A firm sees its own fee and its own rank. It never sees the gap to the leader, another firm's fee or name, or another firm's changes. This is enforced by the platform itself, not just hidden on screen.
• A lower fee cannot hide a smaller job. Scope, assumptions, exclusions and team are locked once the window opens, so the only thing that can change is the price of the same work. The charity pledge may go up, never down.
• Firms qualify first. The window is open only to firms that have sent a complete quote by the qualifying deadline, with every criterion answered. If fewer than 3 firms qualify there is no window: the round becomes a sealed round and everyone is told why.
• The clock is the platform's. The window opens and closes on the platform's clock. A change in the last five minutes keeps the window open for five more minutes, so nobody wins by timing a change to the final second, and the extensions add at most thirty extra minutes in all.
• Every change is recorded. Each fee change is logged with its own fingerprint, a code that would show if the record were altered, and the round record issued at the close lists them all. The buyer's decision record shows each firm's opening and final fee.
• The buyer chooses on value. Rank during the window is by fee alone. After the window the buyer weighs fee against experience, team, timing and the answers to its criteria, and is never obliged to choose the lowest fee.

For firms: what you see, and a practice round

During the window your live screen shows the countdown, your current fee, how many changes you have made and your own rank, for example “2nd of 4”. Every change needs a confirmation, because a fee cannot be raised again. If the window is extended, the screen says so and reads out the new end time.

Before the window opens you may set a sealed lowest fee. If you do, the platform lowers your fee by the minimum step whenever you are not ranked first, and never goes below your floor. Nobody, including the buyer, is told your floor.

Once your firm is signed in you can try a practice live round from your dashboard: three fictional firms, the real screen, nothing recorded. To join as a firm, see For law firms.

If you cannot use the screen

The window has a hard end, so a firm that cannot use the live screen may email Counsel Bids staff at hello@counselbids.com during the window, and a staff member will enter the change for it. A firm that would rather telephone should ask for a number before the window opens. A change entered by staff is marked and logged as staff-entered, and is subject to exactly the same rules: the fee can only go down, by at least the minimum step, and the window must still be open on the platform's clock.