Onit Counsel Exchange is Onit’s vendor portal where law firms and other legal vendors submit invoices, manage timekeepers and rates, collaborate on budgets, and track invoice status for OnitX, SimpleLegal, and Unity customers. It replaced BillingPoint, the portal for OnitX customers, and CounselGO, the portal for SimpleLegal customers, with a single system. For legal departments, the change sits mostly on the firm side. Your billing guidelines and approval workflows carry over, and the portal your firms log in to is the part that changed.
What is Onit Counsel Exchange?
Onit Counsel Exchange is the single intake portal through which outside counsel and vendors send invoices and billing data into Onit’s eBilling platforms. Firms submit LEDES invoices, add timekeepers, submit rates, share files, run reports, and see where each invoice stands in review.
Onit set a short transition. Counsel Exchange was activated on July 13, 2025, both legacy portals stayed available during a dual-access period, and Onit ended BillingPoint and CounselGO access on September 17, 2025, making Counsel Exchange the single vendor portal. Invoices, matters, files, and historical reports carried over automatically, so firms did not have to migrate data.
For departments that ran an Onit eBilling implementation built around BillingPoint or CounselGO, the configuration behind the portal stays in place. The rules, matters, and approval chains in your Onit ELM still decide what happens to each invoice.
Why did Onit replace BillingPoint and CounselGO?
Onit replaced BillingPoint and CounselGO to give firms one modern portal across all its eBilling products, with the same core workflows and a better experience around them. A firm with clients on both OnitX and SimpleLegal previously had to use two different portals.
Onit describes four main improvements for vendors:
- Cleaner interface. A refreshed, responsive design intended to cut vendor training time.
- Clearer navigation. More intuitive navigation and in-app guidance, including a walkthrough on first login.
- Status and validation feedback. Better visibility of where each invoice stands and why a rule flagged it.
- Collaboration. Improved tools for working with legal teams on invoices, budgets, and files.
Counsel Exchange also includes an AI support assistant that answers how-to questions in several languages. Onit positions the platform as the foundation for future AI capabilities, and the updated vendor terms include a new section on AI use.
What stays the same after the move to Counsel Exchange?
The core workflows firms and legal departments rely on stay the same after the move to Counsel Exchange, and nothing changes inside your Onit ELM. Onit stated that existing billing guidelines and approval workflows remain unchanged and that no technical setup was required from customers.
- Invoice submission. Firms submit invoices through a workflow similar to the one they used before.
- Timekeepers and rates. Firms add timekeepers and submit rates for approval.
- Budget collaboration. Firms submit and revise budgets for review.
- File sharing. Documents move between the firm and the legal team inside the portal.
- Status visibility. Firms see invoice status as it moves through review.
Firms kept their usernames and reset their passwords on first login. For SimpleLegal customers, the portal firms knew as CounselGO is now part of Counsel Exchange, and CounselGO was the outside counsel portal for SimpleLegal until the switch.
How does Counsel Exchange act as a gatekeeper for invoices?
Counsel Exchange acts as a gatekeeper because it is the only route by which invoices reach your Onit review queue, and the validation rules configured in your ELM run on each invoice as it arrives. The portal is where firms submit and see the result. The rules themselves live in your configuration. That gate is busier than it used to be: billing data from about 400 law firms shows invoice rejection rates rose from 11 to 18 percent in 2025 as corporate clients tightened automated review.
Most departments configure checks in five areas before an invoice reaches a reviewer:
- File format. The LEDES file has the required fields, totals, and structure.
- Eligibility. The firm is an approved vendor, and the matter is active and assigned to that firm.
- Duplicates. The invoice number, firm, matter, and amount do not match an invoice already submitted.
- Rates. Each timekeeper exists and bills at the approved rate for the matter.
- Coding and budget. Required task and expense codes are present, and the invoice fits the approved budget.
Decide which checks stop an invoice and which only flag it. Invalid files, duplicates, and inactive matters are usually hard stops. Rate variances, narrative problems, and budget overruns usually go to a reviewer as exceptions. Billing guidelines work best when each clause becomes a configured rule, and the clearer validation feedback in Counsel Exchange makes well-written rule messages more valuable, because firms now see them directly.
What should legal operations check after the Counsel Exchange switch?
Legal operations should check that every active firm is submitting through Counsel Exchange and that nothing in your own documents still points to the old portals. The switch was managed by Onit, and the loose ends sit in your department’s materials.
- Firm activity. Confirm every firm with open matters has submitted at least one invoice or rate update through Counsel Exchange.
- Firm instructions. Update billing guidelines, engagement letters, and onboarding packs that name BillingPoint or CounselGO or link to their URLs.
- Internal guides. Update reviewer training and help documents that show old portal screens.
- Reports and dashboards. Check that any report labels, filters, or saved views referring to the old portals still make sense.
Most departments can finish these checks in one to two weeks. Start with firms that bill monthly, since a missing invoice from them shows up fastest.
How should law firms be supported in Counsel Exchange?
Law firms should be supported in Counsel Exchange through updated instructions, a named contact in your department, and a quick review of each firm’s first submissions. Onit handled vendor communications during activation, and your department still owns the relationship with each firm.
Send firms a short note confirming the new portal address, where your billing guidelines now live, and who to contact with questions about your rules. Point portal how-to questions to Onit’s in-app support. Watch the first two billing cycles closely, since formatting or timekeeper issues from the old portal can resurface. Onboarding law firms to eBilling goes smoothly when each firm receives clear rules before its first invoice, and the same approach works for a portal change.
Which metrics show Counsel Exchange is working?
A small set of metrics shows whether Counsel Exchange is working as your department’s invoice gatekeeper, measured by firm. A single blended figure can hide one firm that is struggling.
Track portal adoption, meaning invoices submitted through Counsel Exchange as a share of all outside counsel invoices, with a target of 95 to 100 percent. Track first-pass acceptance, the share of invoices passing validation on first submission, and compare it with your figures from BillingPoint or CounselGO. Watch the exception rate by rule, the median time for firms to correct a flagged invoice, and rate compliance, where 98 to 100 percent of time entries should bill at approved rates. If first-pass acceptance drops after the switch, look at which rules fire most often. Legal department KPIs should include invoice quality measures alongside spend, and these figures fit naturally there.
What does Onit Counsel Exchange mean for your eBilling roadmap?
Onit Counsel Exchange means your firm-facing portal is now on a single platform that Onit plans to extend, so it is a good moment to review how your rules and firm experience fit together. The portal change did not require configuration work, and it does create an opening for improvements.
Review your validation rule messages, since firms now read them directly. Clear messages that name the rule and the fix reduce resubmissions. Revisit which rules hard-stop an invoice and which only flag it. And keep an eye on the AI capabilities Onit adds to the platform, checking each against your billing guidelines and your firms’ updated terms before switching anything on.
Conclusion
Onit Counsel Exchange replaced BillingPoint and CounselGO with one vendor portal for OnitX, SimpleLegal, and Unity customers, and access to the old portals ended on September 17, 2025. Your billing guidelines, approval workflows, and ELM configuration carried over unchanged. The work that remains is on your side: confirm every firm is active in the new portal, update documents that name the old ones, watch first-pass acceptance by firm, and use the clearer validation feedback to tighten your rule messages.
How Basla can help
Basla provides delivery teams for Onit implementation, covering legal technology consulting, business analysis, billing rule and validation configuration, law firm onboarding support, testing, documentation, and post-go-live support. Basla’s analysts review rule sets and firm-facing messages, and its teams update onboarding materials and reviewer guides when the portal changes.
Basla has supported Onit matter management and eBilling delivery across more than 10 global jurisdictions. Its teams provide hypercare support through portal transitions and the first billing cycles that follow.
Frequently asked questions
What is Onit Counsel Exchange?
Onit Counsel Exchange is Onit’s vendor portal where law firms submit invoices, manage timekeepers and rates, collaborate on budgets, and track invoice status. It serves OnitX, SimpleLegal, and Unity customers.
Did Counsel Exchange replace BillingPoint?
Counsel Exchange replaced both BillingPoint and CounselGO. Onit activated Counsel Exchange on July 13, 2025 and ended access to BillingPoint and CounselGO on September 17, 2025.
Do legal departments need to change their Onit configuration for Counsel Exchange?
Legal departments do not need to change their Onit configuration for Counsel Exchange. Onit stated that billing guidelines and approval workflows remain unchanged and that no technical setup was required.
Was invoice history moved to Counsel Exchange?
Invoice history was moved to Counsel Exchange automatically. Invoices, matters, files, and historical reports are available there without any migration work by firms.
How do law firms log in to Counsel Exchange?
Law firms log in to Counsel Exchange with their existing BillingPoint or CounselGO username. They reset their password the first time they log in to the new portal.
What should legal operations update after the switch to Counsel Exchange?
Legal operations should update billing guidelines, engagement letters, onboarding packs, and reviewer guides that name BillingPoint or CounselGO. They should also confirm every active firm is submitting through Counsel Exchange.
*This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Basla Solutions provides legal technology implementation and support services and does not practice law.*