Tracey Wood & Associates handles a high volume of traffic and drunk-driving cases in Madison, Wis. These matters are procedurally intense upfront, demanding speed and accuracy from the legal assistants handling them. Smokeball ensures Tracey Wood & Associates’ staff are empowered to hit their deadlines without mistakes. But it wasn’t always like this.
Cycles of Inefficiency
Prior to Smokeball, Tracey Wood & Associates relied on a mash-up of paper files and Excel spreadsheets — a system that couldn’t keep pace with their caseload. The firm was drowning in discovery, e-filing and other repetitive administrative tasks. Amidst the disorganization, legal assistants kept leaving. Training new staff every eight months was tedious and a drain on staff time.
Automation to the Rescue
After researching several competitors, office manager David Dewald chose Smokeball as “the complete package.” David was sold on the “flexible and powerful Document Automation,” which eliminates double data entry, ensures accuracy and jumpstarts every case.
The Office365 integration was huge for Tracey Wood & Associates. Now all related emails, calendar events and documents are stored together in the related matter, accessible to any team member no matter where they’re working. The firm also uses e-filing—a powerful shortcut whose time savings “really add up!”
Most importantly, by using Workflows and Document Automation, David now trains new legal assistants quickly, pointing them to the documents they need to get up to speed fast. As a result, while many firms struggled with turnover in 2021, Tracey Wood & Associates didn’t lose a single team member.
Empowered and Efficient
Since adopting Smokeball, Tracey Wood & Associates hasn’t just retained staff, they’ve hired two new attorneys and two more legal assistants. The firm now has more time to focus on what they do best: help their clients. And with more time, they’ve also increased their case load by 20%, expanding their expertise throughout the Madison community.
