General Q&A

I joined a new firm and we will be integrating Smokeball into our Real Estate and Estate Planning practice. I started a “dummy” file to look at the Wills and Trusts forms but don’t see any.  Does Smokeball not have any Wills and Forms available?? Will we need to use the forms from some other resource (IICLE) and upload them for processing?

Is it possible to have the same preprogrammed folder structure created for new leads and matters without causing folder duplication when converting a lead to a matter?As of now I have my folder structure preprogrammed for leads so that when converting to a matter, the folders transfer over exactly.  However, if I wanted to create a matter without first creating the lead, using my method, there would be no folders preprogrammed for the matter.THANKS! 

Why is there not an option to add a mediator to Parentage cases?

What is the best way to enter an attorney that works in a law firm with multiple offices?  When you are using fields in documents, SB seems to default to the main address when the address should be going to the address of the particular attorney involved in the case. Also, does anyone know how to get SB to format a letter properly?  The default in my version puts the company name above the person it is addressed to.  <<Letterhead/Addressee - Address Block - Name and Matter Contact Address>>

Will you guys be rolling out matter intake forms for personal injury/motor vehicle cases? 

Hi Everyone,I was wondering what best practices people are using for putting in Legal Assistants into Smokeball. If they add them as an attorney, or as an Authorized Contact, or something else so they’re attached to a matter and easily able to email.

Is there a way to import a csv file with case expenses? Our credit card syncs automatically to QBO, but we need to manually code in each transaction. Importing these would save an incredible amount of time and prevent errors. Is there any way to do this? 

We represent children as attorney for the child for the courts.  We select the “Child Representation” matter under “Family” law matters list. All good, except in matter searches when we filter by attorney or staff person - none of these Child Representation matters appear in the lists even though the attorney and staff are properly identified in the “Matter info” tab of the file. Our workaround has been to take the extra step and tag these matters to the attorney and involved staff. Is there a fix or was this an intentional outcome of the SB team?Anyone else have this issue?

Is there a way to add a Settlement Statement to a Personal Injury Matter or Motor Vehicle Matter? I know it is an option for a civil matter, but it would be very useful to have in a Personal Injury Matter or Motor Vehicle Matter.

When our firm substitutes out of a matter and there are future pending deadlines or events that were previously created, what is the best way to navigate this? I would like to close the matter and remove the future events showing up into outlook.

how are people taking phone call notes in the system??Anything other than creating memos??Would be nice to have something dedicated to it, so that it showed up in the timeline and facilitated a billing entry.

Curious if other users have had this issue, and get as frustrated as I do. I typically like to go into my pending time entries and elaborate on the description portion of the time entry. It doesn’t happen every time I do this, but becoming more frequent, and essentially puts me in the rage! I will be typing in the description portion, suddenly the time entry will “flash” and require me to click on the pending time entry again to continue typing in the description- recently the system will stop my typing and move the cursor back to the beginning of the description, forcing me to retype the entire description. What in the world causes this “glitch?” My boss has the same issue happen to him on occassion.

Hello All,I would like to have a place for Smokeball users that use Employment Law can Connect.  I am going to tag the users that practice at a firm that does employment law.  Feel free to connect here. @ELS410eg @CINDYWILK @nicknorris @BJ Brinkerhoff @donnabelle hutt @MJK_Law @kdhaynes @Caryn M @bsudano @jfriedman @HNLeonard @DMClark @Orlando Sheppard @Manny Starr 

Is there a way to see every matter for each author on Smokeball? Under the matter menu I have tried this, I click one author and deselect the rest. But it shows we only have two matters which is not the case. Any assistance would be appreciated?  Kind Regards, Shane Finch 

Hello all. If it’s there, I haven’t found it, but is there a way in billing, in the invoice tab, when viewing the list of unpaid invoices, to allow us to tag whether we’ve USPS (snail)mailed the invoice?Yes, I know we can readily see if we’ve emailed it, but for the significant number of clients we send bills via the Post Office, it would be great to have that at-a-glance option for as well.  I’m hoping I missed that option somewhere...   

How can I format inside a document commas and semicolons. I keep trying to modify a document with semi colons and colons, but then when I try to run the document through they doesn’t show up. I am using the feature ‘Estate Details-Child-Child Names + Birthdates Formatted Down’. I am editing inside this particular section, and unsure of why my semi colons or commas that are supposed to be there are somehow not showing up. 

Hi All,Under smokeball billing, when looking at the WIP (prior to invoicing), the description is Services Provided on ________. Can you view or print a breakdown of the services with full description prior to converting to a invoice? Thank you. 

There are many times when I need to search for a document such as a motion or a complaint that has been previously used in another case. However, if I do not recall the name of the case I am unable to find what I am looking for. Is there a way to globally search for documents across all matters so we do not need to recreate the wheel?

Good Morning - I am new to Smokeball billing and have gone through some trainings, but I’m still trying to streamline everything and I have been using the autobilling entries - however, I wanted to see if anyone knows if I am able to auto create the entries but then separately select what I want billed? Right now everything is being billed and then I have to go back through to check off what I do not want billed. Is there a way to just collect all my entries on one list and at the end of the day check what should be billed and charged? Thanks in advance.

Is there a report to show all General Account receipts.

I am trying to add space between each matter when listed. It is easier to find each matter if there is more space between each one. I noticed on our criminal matters they are spaced, but on our personal injury matters, they are not.

Is anyone using the credit card surcharge feature with Lawpay? If so, how is that working out?

Does anyone use a separate program for intaking new leads, like Lead Docket?  SB’s leads function eaves a lot to be desired.  I keep hearing there will be a questionnaire function that will populate in SB, but it’s not coming until this winter (if I recall correctly).   Does anyone use another program for intake?

Hi, How do I verify the identity of Person who is only listed as a contact for a Firm/Business/Organisation on a matter where the Firm/Business/Organisation is the client?I am aware that where the Person is the client, there is an option to request VOI using the Contact Details widget on the right of the Matter screen, but that option is not available when the Firm/Business/Organisation is the client.