Smokeball Review

PROS: It has easily compelled me right on their first call because I see that the tool really suits my demands. Also, actual lawyers have developed Smokeball and not mere programmers; meaning, they know what an actual law firm needs. In addition, Smokeball is specially geared for solo law practitioners or small law offices. For example, you’d receive a basic case management tool, but you’d also get helpful add-ons such as automating common forms and building a website. You won’t be needing to hire assistants for such a job anymore. Smokeball also allows you to choose the field of law that you specialize in. After selecting, the tool would show the common actions and necessities of a lawyer in a certain field. You can begin using it right away, or customize it depending on your preference.

CONS: Tweaking the payment rate for each case file is somehow difficult. This is essential because I charge my clients according to the matter that I’m handling. As a workaround, I need to click on the time entries manually to adjust the rates. Also, I’ve had some problems when putting a file on a close email previously. Thankfully, recent updates have solved such email concerns. Other case management tools that I’ve previously used are too horrible. They don’t feature any formatting functions such as paragraph, bold or underlining schemes. Smokeball has solved such headaches for me. One thing that I’ve found great is that Smokeball helps me organize different stuff through various solutions such as color formatting. For instance, I can highlight certain texts with blue for easy identification and scanning of their contents. Smokeball works well with Outlook for easy emailing too. It sports a ribbon inside the Outlook UI, wherein you can place details such as matter and the message you want it to carry along with the document. Plus, you can tweak it up and make future responses from such contact to become linked to such email, so you do not need to input such details again and again. There is no need for the lengthy emailing processes of other case management tools anymore.

PROS: Smokeball has so many helpful features for our law office, and all are helpful for my paralegal duties. It has intuitive forms, automatically bills all entries, as well as it has an automatic time tracker among other functions. Smokeball also syncs well with my file organizer and calendar tools. Moreover, it’s Task and Daily Digest Pane is cool. This enables lawyers to distribute tasks among their staff, then further specify the tasks into a basic list of daily work. Such a feature also displays daily schedule of each staff accordingly, so they can conveniently work through such a plan in a day. And of course, I can’t miss mentioning the professional tech support of Smokeball. They have deep information about the platform, which is important in providing quick help to us at any given time. If we have a more complex problem, they make a systematic ticketing process for us to go through and get a fitting solution at the end.

CONS: I encounter some problems with the links that Smokeball generates for sharing files. Yes, the link is encrypted and secured, as well as it makes third-party tools for file sharing unnecessary. The problem is most people with whom I shared such links have difficulties opening it and accessing the files. I think it is a sort of end-user problem concerning this matter.

PROS: This is an outstanding tool for managing cases and for billing. Smokeball includes the auto-time tracking feature which helps me save and handle my precious time accordingly. I’ve been working on the paralegal career for many years, and I haven’t found any platform that can rival Smokeball. This is really fitting for a small law office that values time a lot.

CONS: Smokeball is a costly tool. However, it helps me save a lot of time and make accurate billings. This makes Smokeball a worthy investment, especially that you can easily get back your expenses in a short time.

PROS: I think its forms automation is one of the best features available, as well as the handy mobile version. The tool also has a convenient communication system that suits perfectly for remote work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the developers are constant in terms of boosting the platform, and they offer helpful mini-training courses when something new rolls out. Smokeball is a huge time saver for or office since it makes many routine processes faster to complete.

CONS: Connecting Smokeball to a free e-filing service would be helpful for clients. This would help clients save a few dollars for simple e-filing, especially as the pandemic goes on.

PROS: Smokeball runs on the cloud so I can easily access and open my files regardless of time and location. I can access it at home, in the office, or even in the court. I only need to use an internet-connected device such as my mobile phone, iPad, laptop, or PC. This is especially helpful when the COVID-19 pandemic has struck since I have my essential files anywhere.

CONS: I cannot move SMS messages from my client or the opposing party to their directories in Smokeball. I think this is the only feature that the platform lacks as of now.

PROS: Smokeball user support has a speedy response time when assisting. They help and make follow-ups to ensure that concerns are resolved.

CONS: We’ve noticed that the tool doesn’t automatically fill some fields that should carry similar information or details. The accident information, for example, pushes us to encode similar information for different parties involved.

PROS: This is truly revolutionary for a solo lawyer like me. It has superb automated documentation that makes an assistant unneeded. It also has a reliable time tracker that captures tons of essential details. Smokeball onboarding and tech support teams have stellar quality as well.

CONS: Smokeball doesn’t process ACH payments. More billing options and payment gateways would be great.

PROS: Smokeball helps us create more systematic processes and workflows in the firm. For instance, we have programmed the platform so it would automatically assign tasks to the proper staff accurately. It would do such when it is time for the staff to begin and finish a workload. Tracking all our profit is easier too since the tool conveniently displays earnings from hourly rates and upfront charges.

CONS: The fact that Smokeball functions partially on the local device and partially on the cloud makes it somehow sluggish. Yes, it is a wonderful idea to work without internet connectivity. But making Smokeball fully run on the cloud would be greater.

PROS: The best part of Smokeball is its ability to store essential documents that I need to handle, especially those with strict deadlines that I should meet. Storing and retrieving all such files have become efficient and easy. This makes me enjoy a more seamless workflow which is vital for accomplishing tasks before their respective deadlines.

CONS: I can’t seem to make notes in Smokeball that all my staff can work together. Such feature would help make a certain task or topic available to all my staff.

PROS: Smokeball is a necessary tool for any small law office. It is loaded with useful features for daily processes for managing a law office, such as forms automation, email tracking, securing messages through encryption as well as large file transfer without vulnerabilities. I don’t even need to use other platforms for emailing because Smokeball tracks pretty much everything. On top of those, Smokeball also offers reliable time tracking for a small additional charge. It is capable of tracking every minute of my time at work. I rave about this platform!

CONS: Smokeball has no big problem. Its developers are constant in terms of boosting the tool with new updates that solve earlier issues.

PROS: You only need good internet connectivity. You can easily access and use Smokeball using any mobile phone or computer. It lets me track workflow too. I can easily see work development as well as the current workloads of my staff.

CONS: Smokeball doesn’t run offline. So, when the internet fails, we cannot proceed with our tasks. Also, I wish I can generate URLs to easily access certain files in a task. The ability to print tasks would be useful too.

PROS: Learning to use Smokeball is super easy. You do not need prior experience of using Smokeball to fully grasp its functions. The actual use of the platform is very user friendly too. I also love its mail merging feature where I can easily fill documents in a snap.

CONS: The mail merging feature is great, but it is somehow difficult to learn. I experienced some problems learning about where to get the data to merge. Thing is, Smokeball tutorial materials are hard to search and find.

PROS: Learning and actually using Smokeball is a breeze. It also has a professional team of staff that really wants the best for the users. They are present round the clock; anytime we call for some assistance in sorting out problems. They can help with complex platform issues, or with simple document template automation.

CONS: It takes a few long moments to open at the start of the day. Also, it stops functioning in some instances when navigating from the task to the cases panel.

PROS: Smokeball is an amazing piece of software that is made up of a lot of wonderful features. It is innovative. It has transformed our operations and has made different processes smoothly flow. Smokeball user support is dependable at any moment we need help too.

CONS: Smokeball doesn’t let us get an agreement for a lesser number of users in one year, assuming that we’ve already signed for a certain number earlier. Say, we’ve got slots for 7 users, we are forced to pay for 7 slots even if we only have 6 users or less.