The downturn means clients are shopping for fees at all points along the legal spectrum. Last week it saw Camerons offering clients a ‘pay what you think its worth’ type arrangement and now it may even prove that lawyers aren’t completely behind the curve when it comes to adopting technological change.

A new website bid4fees.com has launched to bring prospective clients and lawyers together in fee harmony. The online job-bidding concept has proved popular in other industries but it’s a first for UK lawyers.

The prospective clients confidentially list their legal issues and lawyers bid for the work via the site’s messaging system. Registration is completely free for clients and lawyers. Participating lawyers who are registered can see what jobs are cropping up and submit a fixed-fee bid for jobs they want to take on. Clients then consider the offers and choose from the bids submitted. The website charges lawyers 10% of the fee received for the job.

Bid4fees director Lauren Bradley told the Gazette: ‘It is neither an auction site nor a comparison site. It’s a neutral online venue that [creates] a much broader market place for lawyers and clients.’

Kind of like eBay then. But for legal work.