Smokeball Reviews

Pros

At this point, I can't imagine how we managed before using it. The practice management tools are outstanding, the support team is fantastic and the integration with our court's e-filing system makes the whole process incredibly simple. The case workflows have been absolutely transformative for us.

Cons

A few of the court forms feel a bit clunky and I'm not thrilled that the newer court forms are generated as a type of PDF I can't edit with Adobe Pro. I much preferred it when those forms were created in Word. My only other complaint is that Smokeball still doesn't integrate with Adobe or WordPerfect.

Pros

Using it has been really simple and the support team is great. They respond quickly, make you feel like part of the home team and even the swag is a nice touch.

Cons

I really don't have any major complaints at this point though the performance does occasionally slow down during PDF conversion.

Pros

One thing that really helps with Smokeball is how strong the document and email search is. The automatic billing is excellent, even if it likely captures or slightly overestimates time. It works especially well for larger cases because searching through PDFs and emails makes it much faster to locate the exact information you need. I also really appreciate that emails are tagged automatically, the AI time-capture feature is very useful and the Outlook integration is fantastic.

Cons

The biggest downside is the cost. At $150+ per user, it feels pretty outrageous and I honestly wish we had spent more time comparing other options. The fact that pricing is not disclosed on their website says a lot. The software also feels like it is missing updates and they really should include a free e-signing feature like Clio does. There is no court calendaring either so you basically have to track those dates yourself which makes no sense. On top of that, integrations with other vendors are limited. It is still a solid program but it needs to be more affordable and offer more features. Maybe Clio will acquire them one day.

Pros

Since we started using it, the firm has stayed much more organized and has saved a lot of time thanks to the automation and the way everything is kept in order efficiently. The billing feature is especially helpful because it tracks my time without me needing to manually set a timer for each client or go back later to enter what I worked on which saves me a lot of time.

Cons

The only real downside is the calendaring since you need to use a separate program and connect it to your Outlook account.

Pros

After trying other practice management systems like Amicus and PracticeMaster, we finally landed on the one that truly fits our small law firm. Smokeball is incredibly user-friendly and in my view, the best practice management system out there. It also integrates perfectly with Smokeball billing which cuts down the amount of time we spend on tedious administrative work. The tech support and account management have been fantastic as well. Ian, our account manager, consistently makes sure our questions get answered quickly. With Smokeball, we can add notes to a file that everyone on staff can view so the next person can jump right in and continue the work. We can save all emails tied to a matter in a searchable format, email multiple parties on a matter without hunting for contact details, automatically format emails with matter information in the subject line and auto-bill time spent on emails and calendar events. There's a lot more it can do too. Honestly I can't imagine how attorneys manage their practice without it.

Cons

I'd like to see tasks tied to closed matters disappear automatically instead of needing to be deleted manually. It also takes a bit of time to load first thing in the morning though considering how much information the program holds, that feels somewhat understandable.

Pros

Running a solo practice for the past several years, it has become something I really depend on to keep everything efficient and organized. Their support team is extremely responsive and the software keeps evolving in ways that genuinely make it better. It has continued to improve over time enough that the higher cost feels justified.

Cons

The part I'm least happy about is that the price has climbed to nearly twice what it was when I first signed up although the platform has consistently improved and added more features along the way.

Pros

One thing that's really useful is being able to build your own file system inside the Matter field and the keyword search works across the entire Matter field, pulling results from anywhere in it.

Cons

the search is pretty limited, you can't look for more than one keyword at a time in the Matter field and there's no search functionality at all in the Time and Expenses fields.

Pros

The autogenerated documents save a ton of time, the organization is excellent and conflict checking is incredibly simple.

Cons

I do wish it cost less although the features and capabilities still make it feel worth the price.

Pros

Their support team has been excellent and the software really shines when it comes to automation and managing cases efficiently.

Cons

The only real downside is the limited number of integrations. It works with Outlook but not with more tools like Gmail or Google Workspace. If your office already runs on Outlook though, it fits perfectly.

Pros

It has been very simple for our team. It made it possible for our office to transition to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic since all of our files are securely available from anywhere. On top of that, anytime an issue comes up, the Smokeball support team responds quickly and is very helpful.

Cons

My only real complaint is that duplicate files get saved all the time. For instance, if both my assistant and I save the same email to Smokeball, the attachment ends up being stored as two separate files. I really wish there were a way for the system to recognize that and save the file just once.

Pros

Brilliant case management software with tons of document automation features and detailed analytics that make it easy to track performance.

Cons

I honestly have no complaints about it as the service has been excellent.

Pros

Being able to organize data by adding tags is really useful and the platform feels very user-friendly overall.

Cons

At times it does lag a little but it's very minimal.

Pros

Getting started with it was simple and the company's support team has been friendly and genuinely helpful whenever needed.

Cons

There have been a few price increases since I first began using the software and the name feels a bit unusual for legal software.

Pros

Using this at work has made my job much more efficient and effective. Besides letting you upload documents and add notes in MEMO format like other programs, it also includes sample versions of common legal documents. On top of that, you can upload your own templates and Smokeball will automatically fill them in each time using the information from a specific case.

Cons

It can run a little slowly on older computers.

Pros

The forms and letters are tailored to exactly what we need and they automatically pull in the right information. That cuts out a huge amount of manual typing and saves us hours of time.

Cons

As our database has grown, I've started to notice that individual matters don't open or download as quickly as they used to.

Pros

It works really well with the apps we use all the time especially Word, Outlook, Excel and other common tools.

Cons

doesn't connect with the intake software we use earlier in our process. That platform handles our initial intake and we only transfer the client details into Smokeball once the client is officially hired.

Pros

Having the ability to keep all documents directly inside it is a big plus. It's convenient to have everything stored within the platform instead of managing files elsewhere.

Cons

One thing that's missing is message notifications for anything received inside the network so it's easy to overlook new messages.

Pros

The features are very convenient and useful.

Cons

At times, documents can take a little while to load.

Pros

The auto timekeeping has been a huge win for me. I tend to focus on getting the work done first and think about billing later especially when I'm juggling litigation matters, deadlines and last-minute rushes. Because of that, my time entries used to suffer. This feature takes so much of that burden away and makes tracking time much simpler. I absolutely love it. There are also so many other features in the system that I really appreciate.

Cons

In the beginning, the unfamiliar setup was hard to adjust to. I was hesitant and definitely resisted the change at first. After using it for more than a year though, it's amazing to see how much time it saves when things like emails don't have to be manually pushed into client files. I also know we're probably only using a small portion of everything it can do and even with that, it's hard to imagine working without it now. The one real downside for me is the billing side. The reports are too limited and don't fully meet the needs of our practice. A lot of the information the partners ask for still has to be put together manually because Smokeball billing just doesn't have the reporting capability to generate it.

Pros

Being able to switch between computers and mobile devices without missing a beat has been fantastic since all of my client files are right there whenever I need them. It also ties in my phone calls, tracks the time I spend on each matter, manages all my important dates and helps make sure I never miss a deadline.

Cons

I'd like the option to save edited PDFs straight into it. It would also be really helpful if the system could automatically detect duplicate documents or emails especially since Outlook syncing across multiple devices can pull in several copies of the same message.