When founding attorney Amy Molloy launched her Pennsylvania-based firm, Molloy Law, she sought legal software that would support high volumes of transactional work. Smokeball’s intuitive layout, streamlined billing, and document automation quickly became core to her firm’s operations.  

Molloy Law sets itself apart from other local firms because they use smart systems that keep them organized, compliant, and client-focused. So when Amy left Smokeball for another provider that promised deep integrations and discounted pricing, the decision didn’t just disrupt the firm’s workflow—it upended it.

A leap of faith ends in a crash landing

After three successful years with Smokeball, Amy was tempted by a steep discount from LEAP who offered integrations with WealthCounsel and EasySoft—two tools Amy wanted to further streamline her firm's work.  

Amy made the switch and almost immediately regretted it. First, critical data didn’t migrate properly. Amy knew migrations were tricky, so she gave LEAP the benefit of the doubt. Additionally, the new billing and time tracking tools were overly complex. It wasn’t that Amy’s team couldn’t work as fast in LEAP as they could in Smokeball—her team struggled to work at all. And training sessions were difficult to book. “The platform was not intuitive. Everything took longer, and LEAP’s support team couldn't provide the answers we needed,” recalls Amy. Plus, several add-on services increased the subscription cost, diminishing the promising up-front discount.

The switch caused a series of costly setbacks the worst of which was Amy was now blind to her firm’s financial health. “With Smokeball I could instantly see a snapshot of the business and our billing. With LEAP, I had no clue where I stood with my business anymore. It was incredibly stressful,” remembers Amy.

Back to business with Smokeball

Amy had enough of the cumbersome software, an inability to address her concerns, and lack of insight into her firm. She reached out to Smokeball and re-signed even though it meant paying for two systems at once. Her firm was back up and running immediately, and staff were ecstatic. “It felt like a thousand pounds were lifted off our shoulders. With Smokeball, we could get back to helping our clients,” says Amy.

The return to Smokeball instantly restored visibility into firm performance and simplified daily tasks. The team picked up where they left off, relying on Smokeball’s intuitive layout, matter stages, and integrated e-signatures to keep matters moving.

Although Molloy Law mostly bills flat fee, Amy uses Smokeball’s automatic time tracking to ensure accurate records that she can submit for court approval. Amy could track her time in LEAP, but it was all recorded as billable. This required her to convert every entry to nonbillable manually. “Smokeball tracks the unbillable time in the background, which doesn’t impact my other metrics or bog down billing," she says.

Additionally, Amy is back to billing in under an hour each week instead of spending her weekend digging through data. She manages deposits in 20 minutes and reconciles through QuickBooks Online. And she feels confident in her firm’s financial health, with a full picture of where accounts receivable and invoices stand.

Priceless practice management that provides peace of mind

With Smokeball, Amy works on her business, not in it. “I have no stress logging into Smokeball. I can focus on things like: are we hitting our monthly targets? Not: how do I even pull up this error-riddled document."

With the right practice management software, Molloy Law is once again organized, efficient, and client-focused. “Anyone on staff can look in Smokeball and instantly answer a client’s question,” says Amy. Staff are empowered knowing information is accurate, and Amy has control and insight into her business. “I know where we stand financially without spending my weekends digging through data, and that peace of mind is priceless.”