Smokeball Reviews & Product Details

The files can be set up to be uniform, by category, so that when you open a new matter, you're plugging in information that fits the pattern of your cases. Our cases are injury cases--it has specific file types for us that are tailored to our practice. And this is all available through the internet, anywhere. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Some things must be refined/tailored to each practice, but this is an unavoidable reality with any case management platform. To Smokeball's credit, they keep trying to refine and take suggestions to incorporate it into what they have. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

We use Smokeball for our firm after trying various other legal software providers over the years (most notably, CaseFox, LeanLaw). Here are my thoughts:

1. Smokeball is an "everything" platform. We realized we were only using the other softwares for billing/invoicing, but found little use for them otherwise. Smokeball, on the other hand, is much more versatile. We track our to-dos there, create workflows, assign tasks/projects to others at the firm (it avoids the back-and-forth internal emails), share our draft documents with client through a secure portal, and much more!

2. If you are a real estate transactions law firm (as we are), Smokeball is the only platform specifically designed for that practice area. We love that it automatically calendars deadlines, has templates built in, and otherwise automates much of the closing process for us (and avoids costly mistakes such as missing a deadline).

Overall, it's a great software and will help automate much of your workflow. We highly recommend considering it if you are looking for a robust legal software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I would point to three possible dislikes:

1. Cost (yup, it's one of the more expensive options you'll find out there). But when evaluating options, the thought process should be whether you will save some time by implementing the features of the software. And if so, a few extra bucks monthly is well worth it.

2. A little glitchy at times. We sometimes would create an invoice but would not be able to load it or send to a client until the next day. I have no idea why this happens, though it hasnt been a big issue for us.

3. Requires you to invest a lot of time to set up to automate your documents and learn how to modify them as you go. But, again, it is time well spent.

Overall, an excellent software and definitely worth considering for your law firm, especially if you handle real estate transactions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Definitely the auto time keeping. I am a worker bee and worry more about getting the work done and billing second. Working on litigation matters with deadlines, rushes, in the midst of the hustle, I admit my time entry suffered. This feature makes the time keeping easy. Love it. So many features that I love. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

At first, I disliked the unfamiliarity. I was reluctant and resisted change. We have used it for over a year now and it is amazing how much time is saved when you don't have to push emails to client files, etc. etc. I understand we only use a small fraction of what SB has to offer. Keeping that in mind, I can't imagine work without it. The only down side I believe is the billing side of it. The reports are limited and not sufficient for our practice. Alot of what the partners ask for has to be created long hand because SB billing does not have the capability to run the reporting. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I love that I can move seamlessly between computers and electronic devices and have access to all of my client files at my fingertips. The software integrates my phone calls, keeps track of time spent on each file, keeps track of all dates for me, and ensures that I never miss a deadline. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I would like to be able to save edited pdfs directly into Smokeball. I also would love if Smokeball could automatically recognize when documents or emails are duplicitous (Outlook syncs from multiple devices and picks up multiple copies of the same email). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The fact that this one program is all you need because they have integrated with other programs so you don't have to re-input information into 3 different programs. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Sometimes it is a little slow, but I believe that has to do with our internet connection. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

That it saves time and makes mundane processes feel like seconds of work. I also love the phone app and the fact the company is always improving the product. The forms automation is seamless and the company will provide endless training for anything new or a simple refresher course. The smokeball communicator feature is nice as well with many offices working remotely during the pandemic. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I wish it was linked up to an e=filing provider that did not charge a fee per e-fling. During the pandemic, most clients do not want to be told they have to pay an extra $3.00 per filing, just for the attorney's convenience. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The fact that I have one (1) place to find all my important and time-sensitive documents is extremely important to me! It creates a more efficient and productive work space, where I can be sure when I need to find a document, it will be right at my fingertips! When you have deadlines to meet, efficiency and time-saving techniques make all the difference. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The only downside I see with Smokeball is being able to have notes to internal staff relating to a matter, where all can interact to the notes and with each other. I haven't found how to make that happen yet. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It is simple to create systems and workflows. We have the system automatically set to task the correct team member when it is time for them to complete a task. It is easy to show profitability margins whether we are doing flat fee or hourly work. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The hybrid system of being on the desktop and partly in the cloud can be a little slow at times. It is nice to work in the system when there is no internet connection but I think moving toward a fully cloud based system would probably be helpful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What a time saver! Smokeball is by far the easiest to use matter management and timekeeping platform I have used in my career. As an associate I really appreciate all the bells and whistles I can access that make the admin portions of my work (especially timekeeping) so much easier! This is a huge benefit to me, the firm, and our clients! And I can access it on my iPhone in a pinch! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I only wish the automatic time capturing also captured my time spent in research online and in Lexis! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The Smokeball system is very user friendly, it was easy to learn and the Smokeball team cares about the people using their system and are always there to answer any questions or help with problems. They are always available by phone if we are having any issues with the system, or need some help creating template for the documents we use most often. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There’s really nothing I dislike about it, except maybe that it can take a little too long to boot up in the morning, and then sometimes it also freezes for a minute when switching from tasks back to the matters tab. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I truly don't know how any small firm practices without Smokeball. They automate forms, respond to support questions, and truly help the small firm practitioner with everyday administration of all functions. I purchased Smokeball for the email tacking capabilities, but pay for because I capture ever minute of my time on a time. Just one hour covers the monthly cost. I can barely return emails outside the system because I am so addicted to the cloud based tracking of all file activities. I can securely transfer large files, encrypt messages, and automate every day forms. i think I am NY's biggest fan of this small office management software! I don't even use all of its functions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Nothing-- they continually roll out newer and newer versions addressing their own weaknesses. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

the most helpful aspect of Smokeball its its integration with key MS Office functions, especially as it pertains to email and document indexing Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Smokeball is a heavy software. It runs well but is not 100% fluid. It is also far from bug-free. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Webinars teach new features that have been rolled out so that I know how to correctly use the new feature and ask live questions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I don't really have a relationship with my client specialist. I talk mostly to the tech department who usually find the answer to any problem that I have. Or I talk directly to Chad who answers all billing questions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have found Smokeball very easy to use. It has allowed our office to easily "go remote" during the COVID-19 pandemic as all of our files are easily (and securely) accessible from anywhere. Additionally, whenever I have an issue or problem with Smokeball, their support department is quick to respond. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The only feature I dislike is that duplicate files are constantly saved. For example, if my assistant and I save an email to Smokeball, the attachment saves as two separate files. I wish Smokeball had a feature to only save a file one time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Smokeball is so easy to use! Even without their training, the program is very intuitive in its design. The staff is extremely helpful in responding to questions and providing step by step instructions. I love the way that it also integrates Outlook, Quickbooks, and Microsoft Office so that it is easy to track your time. Just by keeping better track of the time on my computer, I have doubled my billing. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The only downside is that Microsoft Office occasionally decides that the add in is running to slow and tries to disable the add in so that MIcrosoft Office boots faster. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

After using other practice management systems (Amicus, PracticeMaster), we found the solution that really worked for our small law firm. Smokeball is EXTREMELY user-friendly and best practice management system around, and it works seamlessly with Smokeball billing so that we spend less time on tiresome administrative tasks. We love the tech support and account management -- Ian, our account manager, always makes sure that our questions are addressed promptly. With Smokeball, we can: makes notes to the file that all staff members can see, enabling the next person to pick up the file and start working; save all emails to a particular matter in a searchable format; email multiple parties in a matter without having to dig around for their contact information; format emails automatically with matter information in the subject line; auto-bill time spent on emails and calendar events; and so much more. Honestly, I often wonder how attorneys practice without Smokeball. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I wish that tasks for closed matters would simply go away without the need for manual deletion. The program does take a while to load in the mornings, but it's a big program with a ton of information in it, so that's to be expected. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I use smokeball at work and it helps me a lot to do my job effectively and efficiently. In addition to allowing you upload documents and making notes in MEMO format, like other programs do, smokeball provides samples of some common legal documents. You can also upload your own sample and the smokeball auto fills them each time based on the information you have on a particular case. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The program is a bit slow in older computers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Our office (small family law firm) loves Smokeball! As a paralegal, my favorite features are the form automation, automatic time tracking and billing entries, the integration with my calendar, file management, and my absolute favorites - the Tasks and Daily Digest Pane features. Attorneys can assign tasks to other members of their teams, which can then be broken down into subtasks to create simple to-do lists. The Daily Digest Pane displays your schedule for the day, making it so easy to track your current and upcoming tasks in a quick glance. Finally, I cannot say enough good things about the customer service. The representatives are very knowledgeable about the product and extremely responsive to their customers’ need. Several times, when there wasn’t a solution to my issue, they submitted a work ticket and “created” the solution. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I really love the secure link feature in Communicate, where I can send documents to other parties via a secure link instead of using some other tool such as Dropbox or Sharefile. But while it's so easy and convenient on my end, the recipients seem to have a hard time figuring out how to access the documents. It's almost always "user error" on their end, but it is a hassle for me when they have to call me for help. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Smokeball really changed how our small firm runs. We are much more organized and efficient than ever before. Smokeball tech support is readily available and fantastic. There is so much functionality to what this software can do. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The only drawback is that if you sign your contract with a certain number of users, you can't drop below that number for that year. As a small business that grows and changes frequently, it's hard to know that if we happen to have 5 users when we sign our annual contract, we're paying for 5 users all year, even if we go down to 4 users or 3 users, etc. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like the time tracking from MS Outlook and Word. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Sometimes it is slow on startup, but I avoid that by leaving it open on my computer. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The best feature about Smokeball is the ability to link Microsoft office. Outlook has a smokeball add-on and the purpose is to be able to link client emails to their file in Smokeball. This has been an absolute time saver and supply cost saver. I am not longer searching through my entire Inbox for that one elusive email. Additionally, the ability to link emails to files has cut supply costs for the firm, including by not limited to copy paper and printer ink/toner. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

My least favorite feature about Smokeball is the billing side of the program. My office manager previously worked with Amicus for 20 plus years. But with that being said, the Customer Service Desk at Smokeball has been exceptional, even to the point of creating, from scratch, what we need. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Every detail that goes into the development of Smokeball is geared toward 100% ease-of-use! The transition from our old Amicus system to Smokeball was seamless and fast. The majority of our documents were pre-automated and any other miscellaneous docs were a breeze to set up using the automation system. This feature alone saved us hours of daily typing. Every matter and file type is organized and allows for case-specific customization. Other high points are the email integration, calendaring system/integration, time tracking, and the newly implemented Timeline feature. In addition to simply being a fantastic program, they offer tons of instructional videos that greatly assist in learning to navigate and master any function Smokeball offers. Customer and IT Support is also beyond compare! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The only occasional issue is the time it takes to load, but even that has become increasingly faster as of late. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Smokeball is incredibly user friendly. My very favorite part though is the app

You can download on a smart phone to easily access all your files on the go! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I honestly do not dislike anything about Smokeball. To me it is a huge time saver and well worth switching to. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Smokeball has helped organized and saved the firm so much time by doing things automated and things being organize efficiently. The billing and how it keeps track with out me having to set a timer for each client and going back and inputting what I worked on has help me save time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The only downside is calendaring and how you have to find another program and link it to your outlook account. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.