Two of Smokeball’s most innovative features – Communicate, a secure messaging app giving attorneys the convenience of texting with clients, with the added benefits of automatic time tracking and secure file sharing; and Matter Stages, which allows matters to be classified by where they are in the case process – are now even easier to use.

These two elements work together to let law firms send their clients automatic messages with updates on their case when a matter reaches the next stage in its process, saving attorney and staff time while keeping clients informed. And now, with our most recent legal software update, law firms can import pre-made Matter Stages and automated Communicate messages.

Previously, firms would create up their own custom stages and automated messages from scratch. Our internal teams can now provide Smokeball users with a standard set of stages and related messages to get started, which they can then customize to suit their business. This means firms can get started with these timesaving features more quickly than ever before.

Matter Stages and Communicate can also be used independently of one another. Matter Stages are particularly useful for process-driven areas of law such as real estate, enabling attorneys to track case progress and even filter by stage to see where their matters are in the pipeline.

Communicate offers secure messaging for both external communication with clients and internal messaging with colleagues. All messages are tagged to the relevant matter in Smokeball and the text is fully searchable – no more spending valuable time searching for a particular past conversation. Communicate messages are also automatically tracked for billable time, giving attorneys the option to charge for time spent messaging back and forth.

Smokeball’s case management system includes document automation, billing software, automatic tracking of billable hours, and more. Matter Stages and automated Communicate messages are powerful features that enable firms to manage their matters and client communication quickly and efficiently, and now these tools are even easier to get started with. These features are part of a larger suite of software updates recently made available to Smokeball clients.