The Smokeball Document Automation Experience

  • 3 October 2023
  • 12 replies
  • 211 views
The Smokeball Document Automation Experience
S
Rank
Userlevel 3

Smokeball is taking a hard look at document automation as we re-evaluate our offerings, and we want to hear from you! What's working for you? What isn't? How can Smokeball improve your document automation experience?

 

Please respond to this post with your thoughts and someone on Smokeball's Product team may reach out to you for more information. Thanks in advance folks!

12 replies

Funkytown
Userlevel 4

I love:

  • Smokeball helping me create letters
  • Creating my own templates for frequently used communications to my client
    • Introduction letter
    • Closing file letter
    • Reminder of upcoming witness list deadline
    • Etc.
  • and Pleadings
    • basic motion
    • witness list
    • interrogatories
    • basic court forms
  • Adding signature fields for parties and attorneys
  • Adding addresses
  • Adding basic and useful fields

I do not love:

  • Smokeball forms with oddly formatted tables
  • The difficulty finding the correct fields when they are uncommon or buried (the new search feature is a blessing!)
  • The confusion created when someone doesn’t create the contacts properly (some cases have a law office, attorney and paralegal and they don’t all show up as options in the popup dialogue box for email and letters). Total user error, but its not clear how to fix

I really really love:

  • Smokeball’s dedication to continued enhancement and new features
  • Thank you!

 

Alan S. Funk
M
Userlevel 1

I tailor a lot of wills precedents and often the fields I need are not available.

Such as where there are two clients, there is no option for “client 1” or “client 2”, so I’m unable to refer to each other in the document.

Unless I’m misunderstanding the options!

J

I agree, the new search feature in formatting is a big improvement.  But being able to have multiple clients in a matter would be so helpful, not only for cross referencing but for co-petitioners, (like in Guardianship proceedings). 

Also it seems that some field are not available for formatting, like the filed for a client’s  former attorney.  

J
Userlevel 6
Badge +1

@Sam King.

Please build data entry validation into the matter. I have submitted a detailed request on this in the last year. Basic idea is that when a form is added to a task or workflow then the fields necessary to fire that form get data validation in the matter i.e. require user input and are highlighted or called out to the user prior to merging the form. Make another tab in the matter with a “required field view” which shows the form calling for the field. This would reduce user training issues and improve compliance and quality of product.

Include while or for loops (While loop - Wikipedia; For loop - Wikipedia). For example:

  1. Allow user to specify that for [(the first x number) or (every) etc] [Contact of a certain type] a paragraph will be repeated with the fields specified that are relative to that contact.
  2. Allow user to specify number of paragraphs needed to respond to a complaint or petition. User specifies contents of paragraph which for me includes a MS Word [Seq] field to increment each paragraph and also a drop down including options to [admit, deny, or insufficient information].
Fonteneau

Would love an option to refresh the data in fields so if you make a change in a matter, you can immediately see updates in the document.

 

Would love to make sure every field you can key in the matter is available in document automation.  They are not always there.

When working with document containers like letters, would like to see the preformatted portion in the draft.

 

S
Rank
Userlevel 3

@Funkytown - thanks for the feedback! I’m glad to hear the new search feature is helpful. Regarding contact creation, if you could submit a ticket with screenshots demonstrating your issue we would be happy to address it in the future or troubleshoot ways of getting around your painpoint. Don’t hesitate to reach out!

@mrfl - try right-clicking on your first instance of Client on your matter (or whatever contact card is designated to be your client) and choosing “Add Client > Same Attorney”. When opening a precedent once this has been done, the automation panel on the right should show both instances of your Clients and allow you access to the relevant automation fields. If the second instance does not populate by default in the automation panel in Word, try right-clicking on the first instance of Client in the Word automation panel and doing the same thing!

@JudiJenz - I’m glad to hear you are finding the new search feature useful! You can add additional information to a Petitioner (such as their status as “Co-Petitioner”) by right-clicking on the contact card and selecting Edit Role & Legal Description and overriding the Role field by inserting their updated Role information. Regarding former attorneys, there are several ways we could go about solving that - may I suggest adding them as Authorized Contacts in the meantime and submitting a ticket to our Support desk with your contact information so that someone on my team can reach out? We may be able to solve this more permanently with a specific card on the matter or sub-card level.

@JKibler - I am happy to say that we are currently developing a “validation” tool for automation similar to what you have requested above. It will highlight automation fields that are missing data from the matter. We have also received feedback to make our logic statements more robust, so that is something we have heard and are considering.

@Fonteneau - using the Matter tab in the Word automation panel to change information on the base matter should automatically refresh the data in the Word document once saved. You can also change the data on the matter from outside the Word document, and use the Show Fields / Show Values radio buttons to trigger an update. Normally, every field we include on a card or layout has a corresponding field in the Word automation panel - if you come across specific fields that lack one, please submit a ticket and let us know which field is missing, and we are happy to address it! And thanks for the feedback re / being able to view the container data in a draft of a letter - that additional visibility seems helpful!

 

A

Can we have more things to add into the “Matter Details” section? For example, if there is a mediator, being able to add them to the matter as a contact. I know you can go into the matter file settings and tick some more, but there isn’t many options and it depends on the matter type. 

Also, the ability to add custom information in the matter details, so that when you generate a document you can precedent with that and incorporate that custom data. 

A

Also, in the Library section, could there be a way to pin our firm’s custom precedent folder to the top. To save having to scroll through all the folders. And for that Court Folder etc to not pin to the top of every single folder that you open. It’s pretty annoying. 

J
Userlevel 6
Badge +1

Can we have more things to add into the “Matter Details” section? For example, if there is a mediator, being able to add them to the matter as a contact. I know you can go into the matter file settings and tick some more, but there isn’t many options and it depends on the matter type. 

Not every matter type needs a mediator although many could. SB is a AU, GB, US product and I am in the US market. In my market mediator would not be useful in say bankruptcy, criminal, traffic etc. matter types. If you want it in a matter type either “addable” or “always on” then if you request it from support I have seen it done same day in some situations.

J
Userlevel 6
Badge +1

Also, in the Library section, could there be a way to pin our firm’s custom precedent folder to the top. To save having to scroll through all the folders. And for that Court Folder etc to not pin to the top of every single folder that you open. It’s pretty annoying. 

Surely there is more than one matter type in use by your firm even if you focus in a field of law. If so, matter types often track to related folders which are sub types of a field of law. A recent update includes a column in Forms which shows forms created by your firm. That column is also visible in a forms search. You can sort on that column to bring your firm forms to the top.

L

Our personal injury firm has a letter that we send out for delinquent records. It would be super helpful if there was a way to have the If/Then/Else feature have the option to calculate dates from user input. Especially if there was the ability to calculate multiple dates from a single input. 

 

For instance, our firm sends out an initial request, another 3days, 2weeks, 1month, and 1month and 1week after the initial request. If the If/Then/Else feature could do that, it would make the process of sending out our delinquent letter even faster. 

M
Userlevel 2

Still need an automation field in the containers that doesn’t truncate the middle name to a middle initial for clients who use an initial for their first name and full middle name.

Need an automation field that will use whatever address selection is made on the contact card and not just a choice of mailing if different from street or forwarding if different from street.

Group contact cards are not updating the address to both individual contact cards. There is no association linking the two cards on the individual cards either. A field on each card that would associate the spouse/partner would be great.

Replace references does not work with a group contact card. It does not see the clients as “Client 1” and “Client 2.”

When I create a container, the formatting does not fully translate when the container is used. For example, the margin in the template is not what the margin turns out to be when the container is used from “Blank Letter.” This creates printing problems. There are numerous issues with the Word Add-ins.

The Party Select field being “greedy” and needing to be the first question that is asked no matter where it is placed in order in the document is frustrating and then requires the creation of multiple documents instead of one that can handle multiple output scenarios. This subsequently requires more document maintenance. 

Need fields for ITAX Prepay Due Date and Fiduciary Returns Due Date for Pennsylvania in the Case Details for Probate & Estate Admin matters and associate them with the calendar and workflow. 

Being able to record a Deceased Spouse/Partner in a field separate from the Client field and the “Deceased” field used in Probate & Estate Admin would be extremely helpful. The “Authorized Contact” field is not a good workaround for this.

More Business matter types than Business General need the “Accountant” field. The “Authorized Contact “field can get overloaded using it for every party that a specific field does not exist for. 

A field for EIN in Business matter types would be very useful in the Matter Details and automation. 

Being able to automate a PDF Fillable Form created by the Firm to upload details into Smokeball fields would be fabulous! 

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