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Mark your calendars, legal friends: on October 15, 2026, the historic Chicago Athletic Association is throwing open its doors for a full day of learning, connecting, and leveling up your law firm. It's Spark US 2026, and it's shaping up to be the legal industry's most fun and useful day of the year.The morning kicks off with a can't-miss address from Hunter Steele, Founder and CEO of Smokeball, who'll be sharing his vision for where legal tech is headed and the product innovations shaping the future of how firms work. Hunter's the one steering the ship here at Smokeball, and if you want a front-row seat to what's next in AI and law, this is it.Our keynote speaker is Sterling Hawkins, a top-30 global leadership keynote speaker who's advised everyone from Fortune 500 executives to the United Nations. Sterling's message is all about becoming "who the moment requires" — a perfect fit for law firm leaders navigating fast-moving tech change and rising client expectations. Expect big energy,

We are so honored to announce the winners of our annual Smokeball Beacon Awards, celebrating lawyers who go above and beyond to strengthen and uplift the communities they already hold together with their work. These community heroes were selected by our panel of judges from a tremendous pool of caring and impressive legal professionals who don’t tap out when they close their laptops for the day.  ⭐ After building her own family law practice from the ground up, Elleni Kalouris operates her firm to provide free and reduced-cost legal representation to immigrants, survivors of domestic violence, and other underserved members of her community.⭐ Luke Shealey is committed to ensuring every person facing the death penalty has access to a fair defense. As a capital defense attorney and volunteer with the nonprofit Suzerain, he travels across the country teaching attorneys in under-resourced jurisdictions advanced jury selection and trial strategy at no cost.⭐ As Founder and Managing Partner of

When it comes to rankings, we care most about how our clients rank our product, and how it works for them and helps them streamline their workflow while growing their practice, but it sure is nice to get kudos from others who are experts in the legal software arena!Thank you to Julian Blake of The Legal Practice for your ranking of the 10 Best Real Estate Law Software Reviewed in 2026, and for awarding us the top spot. We adore our real estate firms and work hard to provide features and functionality that helps their specific practice in that area of law. The Legal Practice has been testing and reviewing legal software since 2023 as legal tech researchers that dig deep into products to see what works. We are not affiliated with them in any way, and learned of this accolade through a happy client who mentioned it in passing to one of our staff members. What Julian liked about Smokeball is how well we understand a small law firm’s needs, with our user-friendly interface and rich function

Have you heard about Spark 2026? Smokeball is putting on a one-day conference in Chicago, Illinois, on October 15, dedicated to helping you grow your firm. Join legal practitioners from all over the country who will be joining to learn, discuss, and network around building thriving practices and scaling them up in order to better serve the communities that all of you hold together with your hard work and your dedication to your craft.Tickets are on sale at the website, and are currently on sale for the early birds at $199. Click on through and join us, and earn 3 CLE hours as you learn, contribute, and connect!Do so before regular ticket pricing at $299 kicks in on July 31, 2026. We hope to see you at the beautiful, historic but trendy Chicago venue that is hosting us, and look forward to helping you grow your practice. 

Remember in college and law school when your professors would hold office hours? For my 1L Property class, I would go to make sure that the ten examples of the Rule Against Perpetuities I did last night (for fun) were correct so that I knew my understanding was good enough to not bomb the final. In my college Math Music & Art seminar, I would go just to drink coffee and trade dad jokes and puns with Dr. Wilders. (I highly recommend the text we used, Godel, Escher, Bach: The Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter! Such a great book for anyone interested in either math, music, or art.)This is kind of like that, but with fewer dad jokes. If that’s a no-go, I can talk to our team of all-star Trainers and see what they can do, but no promises.If you want to tool around with Archie within Smokeball and see if it has value in your practice, whether for client correspondence, discovery reviews and timelines, analysis of a tranche of bank records, etc., but aren’t quite sure how to get

Join Us at Spark US 2026 — Register Now!We’re thrilled to invite you to Spark US 2026 — Smokeball’s premier user conference for legal professionals looking to sharpen their practice, unlock productivity wins, and connect with other forward-thinking firms. If you’ want to grow your firm and connect with other leading legal professionals doing just that — this is the event for you.When: October 15, 2026Where: Chicago! Find venue, travel, and accommodation details on the event site.Why attend?Hands-on sessions and workshops led by product experts and industry leaders — including deep dives into AI prompts and best practices for matter management. Practical breakout tracks for practice areas like estate planning, real estate, family law, personal injury, and litigation — focused on real workflows you can adopt immediately. Networking with other firm leaders and legal tech afficionados — swap practice and business tips and expand your peer network. Product roadmap previews and interactive d

Jordan Turk, who you may remember from such free CLEs as “Paralegals: The Only Ones Who Know What’s Going On” and “Reasonable Doubt, Unreasonable Inbox,” is back with another free CLE offering for legal professionals using tech to streamline the practice. Join her on June 25, 2026 at 1pm CDT for these practice tips!Legal professionals spend a lot of time on administrative tasks like emails, formatting documents, scheduling, and more, that have surprisingly simple solutions. In this free CLE webinar led by attorney Jordan Turk, you’ll get a rapid-fire tour of practical tech tips, clever shortcuts, and hidden features that can dramatically improve the way you work.Whether you’re a tech enthusiast or someone who still feels like their computer is working against them, you’ll walk away with a long list of small changes that can make a big impact in your practice.‍Key Takeaways:⏱   Uncover 60 practical tech tips and shortcuts that can help legal professionals work faster, reduce frustration

Who doesn’t want a free hour of Ethics CLE credit? As usual, Smokeball has you and your reporting period covered with another information-packed free CLE with the ever engaging Jordan Turk on May 21, 2026, at 1pm CDT. [Troy MacClure voice] You might remember Jordan from such CLEs as “Billable Hours: The Reckoning,” and “Motion Practice: Another Form of Cardio.” She comes to you now with a power hour devoted to modern law practice and the pitfalls in communications that can trip us up and cause us to stumble right into the jurisdiction of the ARDC. We are awash with tech that keeps us at each other’s fingertips. Clients (and partners…and paralegals) expect immediate responses. Opposing counsel fires off emails at all hours even though the Schedule Send option is literally right there. Emails replace formal letters once typed on weighted letterhead, and texts of “K” replace emails about quick redlines or modified jury instructions. All of this starts feeling like efficiency and convenien

Criminal defense work moves fast. One minute you’re reviewing body worn camera footage, the next you’re drafting motions in limine, preparing for a suppression hearing, analyzing ballistics, or trying to untangle 8,000 pages of discovery before court tomorrow morning.That’s exactly why more criminal defense firms are building structured AI prompt libraries, and why Smokeball’s Archie Prompt Library for criminal defense attorneys is worth a look.The Archie Prompt Library found in each matter tab (and as an MS Word plug-in!) allows firms to save, organize, share, and reuse proven AI prompts across the entire practice. Instead of reinventing the wheel every time, your firm can create repeatable workflows for things like:🔹 Discovery summaries🔹 Witness impeachment prep🔹 Motion drafting🔹 Cross-examination questions🔹 Timeline creation🔹 Case chronologies🔹 Client communication drafts🔹 Trial prep checklists🔹 Sentencing argument organizationThe real advantage isn’t just using AI; it’s us

Family law teams spend an inordinate amount of time drafting the same kinds of documents over and over again: status emails, petition summaries, subpoena cover letters, responses, court communications, and client updates. You also tend to have clients that require a lot of communication, some of it repetitive, and a lot of hand-holding. It can be tiring to not only keep drafting the same documents over and over, but to keep relaying the same information and reassurances over and over when communicating with your clients. That’s why AI prompt libraries are quickly becoming one of the most practical tools in modern family law practice.Smokeball’s Archie Prompt Library gives firms a way to save, organize, reuse, and improve proven AI prompts across the entire office. Instead of starting from scratch every time, attorneys and staff can build repeatable drafting workflows for the tasks that consume hours every week. Archie’s prompts can also summarize the client communications you have save

If you’ve been nervous about using AI prompts to help with your legal practice, maybe we can help provide more clarity and color on that. This is not a tool that will ever replace human judgment and personality; rather, it frees up your strategic, analytical mind from rote, repetitive tasks so that you can focus on the case. There are so many operational challenges to running a law firm - managing tranches of documents, client communications, numerous and ever-changing deadlines, billing and reporting, case management, court hearings - all while maintaining accuracy, competence, ethics, and confidentiality.That’s why many firms are turning to AI-powered legal assistants like Archie within Smokeball.Archie’s Prompt Library allows legal teams to create, save, organize, and reuse AI prompts directly inside their matters. These prompts help with the tasks that eat up your entire day: summarizing case status for clients or other members of the legal team who need to know, reviewing recent c

Estate planning lawyers manage some of the most detail-oriented legal work in the industry. From drafting wills and trusts to organizing client information, summarizing matters, and preparing correspondence, even routine tasks can consume substantial time.That’s why many firms are beginning to integrate AI-powered workflow tools like Archie within Smokeball.Archie’s Prompt Library gives estate planning lawyers a centralized system for accessing, organizing, and reusing AI prompts directly inside their matters. Instead of manually repeating instructions or rebuilding workflows from scratch, firms can launch prebuilt prompts or customize their own internal processes for faster, more consistent results.Smokeball also includes out-of-the-box prompts designed for estate planning matters, like preparing wills, trusts, POAs, alongside more general legal workflows such as summarization, memo formatting, detailed matter summaries, and information extraction.For example, estate planning lawyers

For real estate lawyers, time is everything. Between drafting documents, reviewing contracts, summarizing matters, extracting legal descriptions, and communicating with clients, administrative work can quickly consume valuable billable hours.That’s why more firms are turning to AI-powered legal workflow tools like Archie inside Smokeball.Smokeball’s Archie Prompt Library gives real estate lawyers immediate access to reusable prompts that streamline repetitive legal tasks and improve consistency across matters. Instead of starting from scratch every time, firms can use built-in prompts or create custom workflows tailored to their practice, whether it’s handling closings, commercial transactions, title reviews, lease agreements, and more. With Archie, lawyers can create prompts once and reuse them across hundreds of matters. Prompts can even be associated with specific matter types, helping firms maintain consistency while reducing drafting time.For example, a real estate lawyer could cr

Personal injury firms tend to be high-volume, which makes drafting documents even more of a chore. There are so many that repeat in every case: demand letters, medical record requests, client updates, insurance correspondence, settlement summaries, intake notes, and case status emails. At the same time, PI clients often require frequent communication, reassurance, and updates throughout what can be a stressful and physically difficult experience.It can be exhausting not only to recreate the same documents repeatedly, but also to relay the same explanations, timelines, and next steps over and over during the life of a case.That’s why AI prompt libraries for personal injury are quickly becoming one of the most practical tools in modern legal practice.Smokeball’s Archie Prompt Library gives firms a way to save, organize, reuse, and improve proven AI prompts across the entire office. Instead of starting from scratch every time, attorneys and staff can build repeatable drafting workflows fo

Each year for the Smokeball Beacon Awards, we recognize legal professionals who go above and beyond the billable hours -- those who are leading through pro bono service, mentorship, philanthropy, and community impact. This award highlights those who support underserved populations, and use their expertise to improve access to justice for all. Smokeball is honored to award you for your tireless work. We encourage our Smokeball users to nominate their peers - or themselves! - who go above and beyond to provide legal aid to those in need. 💎   Nominations are now open for the 2026 Beacon Awards!   💎    If you or someone in your network is making a difference, this is your chance to spotlight their work.Winners will receive:• $2,000 cash prize • $1,000 donation to a charity of winner's choice• Travel voucher + complimentary ticket to Smokeball’s SPARK event in Chicago  Submit your nomination today! 

Microsoft Word has been around for as long as many of us can remember, but there’s always more to learn about its rich functionality and how legal professionals can use it in their practice. Jordan Turk is back with a new CLE to help you do just that! You might remember Jordan from such award-winning free CLEs as “You’ll Forget This Immediately, But It’s Approved for Credit,” and “Is It Malpractice or Just Monday?” and we hope you’ll join her on July 16, 2026, for this one! This is the second part of Jordan’s first Word CLE late last year, and in it we move beyond the basics and into the features that separate casual users from true power users. This session is designed for legal professionals who want to create smarter, more automated documents, without spending hours fighting formatting issues or reinventing the wheel every time they draft.On July 16, 2026, you’ll learn how to streamline complex documents, reduce repetitive work, and build systems that make your documents more consis

Smokeball recently put on a 4-part series of webinars specifically for personal injury firms. Our partners and trainers demonstrated a number of cool integrations meant to help you save time and money. We love coming up with offerings that we think will solve some of your pain points, and you are the final authority on that. We have a handful of Smokeballers that have already given these integration tools a try and have seen an immediate impact. Join the gang and test them out!  Click the links to watch the free webinars and take advantage of the free perks for each!  YoCierge helps with medical record retrieval! In this 47-minute freewebinar, Matt Pickens of YoCierge and our very own Sara Sultan show you how modernizing your medical record retrieval protocol removes bottlenecks so you and your team can focus on getting justice and compensation for your clients instead of getting bogged down in paperwork. YoCierge integrates well with Smokeball to allow you to keep the readily retrieve

It’s that time again! Like clockwork, our twice-yearly information session about what’s new at Smokeball is here to bring you an outline of what we’ve been up to. You’ll see the familiar faces of two of our expert trainers, Sara Sultan and Nicole Damntiz, who will power-walk you through the new features and improvements released from July through December of 2025. 👟  Running a law firm is a full-time job all on its own, so the session has been organized into 4 parts to bring you fully up to speed on what’s new, what’s changed, and how to keep getting the most out of Smokeball. Don’t delay, sign up today! 📌 Find & EngageEnhancements to contact and lead management  Improved intake and engagement workflows UI updates to make finding information faster and easier 📌 Do & ManageNew matter management capabilities and workflow refinements Expanded role and collaboration options Smarter ways to organize and manage daily work 📌 Track & BillBilling and trust accounting improvement

We’re thrilled to announce the 2025 Beacon Award Winners: Najla Abu-Shaaban and Jim Fine! As an immigration attorney, Najla has reunited over 150 families, helped launch dozens of small businesses—which have created over 800 jobs in Stafford, TX—and secured legal status for professionals who now fill vital roles in healthcare, education, and beyond. Additionally, she dedicates 150+ hours annually to pro bono services, ensuring justice is accessible to the most vulnerable.  Jim opened and now directs the Roosevelt University Legal Clinic, which provides low- and no-cost legal services to Chicagoland residents. The program has already served more than 150 clients and assists underserved populations, including immigrants and LGBTQ+ students, while providing invaluable real-world training for aspiring paralegals. While Jim works as a full-time professor, he additionally dedicates about 30 hours/week to clinic tasks.  Alongside Najla and Jim, we celebrate the work of the 2025 honorable ment

Your response to your AI matter assistant Archie has been thrilling, so we’re launching an Archie Halloween contest! From now until midnight on October 31, every time you ask Archie to work its AI matter magic, you’ll conjure a chance to win.  How to Play:Ask Archie to draft correspondence, review documents, and summon matter summaries at least 10 times before midnight on October 31. Use this list of ideas and prompts if you’re a little newer to Archie. Most active users win!   Prizes to Die For: ️🧙‍♀️ Champion Conjurer: the user with the most Archie inquiries wins a $250 Amazon gift card. 😈 Devils in the Details: the user that crafts the most correspondence (emails, letters, documents, etc.) using Archie wins a $250 Amazon gift card.👻 Boo Crew: the firm with the most overall usage wins lunch on Smokeball, plus a special swag pack.     So grab your fellow ghouls and let Archie handle the heavy lifting this Halloween. May the most spirited users win! ✨ 

We released Smokeball AI at the end of July, and the response has been overwhelming! We’re so glad you’re seeing the power and benefits of Archie, your AI matter assistant. In addition to this supercharged productivity tool, we’ve released several other key features in July and August:  Appointment booking via intakeNow clients can schedule meetings with you directly through your custom intake forms. Streamline scheduling for your clients and avoid double booking!   Document search improvementsYou can now preview documents from the advanced search tab to ensure you’ve selected the right one. Additionally, you can now advance filter by contact to search for a document across all matters a contact is part of.  Interface updateTo improve speed and reliability, we’ve changed the user interface in Smokeball’s native desktop app. While this might initially affect how you navigate the software, these updates will boost performance and enhance your Smokeball experience.   Billing updates Soft

I’m thrilled to announce the 2024 Beacon Award winners!Grand Prize Winner: Mikye MillerMikye has centered his legal practice around pro bono work since 2010, dedicating 100+ hours annually to pro bono and reduced-fee services. Additionally, he volunteers his time at monthly legal clinics and offers legal education to the gender diverse community on the name change process and associated resources. To honor his work, Mikye will receive a $2,500 check, plus a $2,500 donation made in his honor to the legal aid organization of his choice.  People’s Choice Winner: Candice IhemeCandice offers daily free consultations through her law firm, helping pro se applicants and those who can’t afford legal services get the representation they need. She additionally dedicates weekly hours working for the Office of Public Defender. Alongside Mikye and Candice, we celebrate the work of the 2024 finalists: Colleen Contreras, Ted Donner, Molly Hargrove, Andrea Keifer, Anthony Naro, Jerry Novak, and Scott W