Smokeball
Smokeball is a cloud-based legal practice management software that helps small to mid-sized law firms manage matters, track time automatically, and generate documents to increase overall firm productivity.
Zapproved
Zapproved provides corporate legal teams with a cloud-based e-discovery software suite designed to manage legal holds and automate the preservation and collection of digital evidence efficiently.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Smokeball | Zapproved |
|---|---|---|
| Website | smokeball.com | zapproved.com |
| Pricing Model | Subscription | Custom |
| Starting Price | $39/month | Custom Pricing |
| FREE Trial | ✘ No free trial | ✘ No free trial |
| Free Plan | ✘ No free plan | ✘ No free plan |
| Product Demo | ✓ Request demo here | ✓ Request demo here |
| Deployment | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Target Users | ||
| Target Industries | ||
| Customer Count | 0 | 0 |
| Founded Year | 2010 | 2008 |
| Headquarters | Chicago, USA | Portland, USA |
Overview
Smokeball
Smokeball is a cloud-based legal practice management platform designed to help you run a more productive and profitable law firm. It centralizes your entire practice by combining matter management, automated document creation, and lead tracking in one interface. You can manage every detail of a case from initial intake to final billing without jumping between different applications or manual spreadsheets.
The platform solves the common headache of manual time entry by automatically recording every minute you spend working on documents and emails. This ensures you never miss a billable hour and provides deep insights into your firm's profitability. Whether you practice family law, estate planning, or personal injury, you can use pre-built matter types and automated forms to slash the time spent on administrative tasks.
Zapproved
Zapproved helps your in-house legal team take control of the e-discovery process with a suite of automated tools. Instead of relying on manual spreadsheets and fragmented emails, you can manage legal holds, track custodian responses, and collect data from various endpoints through a single, secure interface. The platform focuses on reducing the risk of data spoliation while keeping your discovery costs predictable and manageable.
You can streamline the entire lifecycle of a legal matter, from the initial preservation notice to the final collection of documents. The software is built specifically for corporate legal departments that need to handle high volumes of litigation or internal investigations without overwhelming their IT resources. By automating repetitive tasks, you ensure a defensible process that stands up to judicial scrutiny while freeing your team to focus on high-level legal strategy.
Overview
Smokeball Features
- Automatic Time Tracking Capture every billable second automatically as you work on documents and emails so you never miss a minute of revenue.
- Document Automation Generate complex legal documents in seconds using a library of over 20,000 automated forms that pull data directly from your matters.
- Matter Management Organize all your files, contacts, and deadlines in one digital location to keep your entire team synchronized on every case.
- Legal Billing Create professional invoices and manage trust accounting effortlessly with built-in tools that sync directly with your tracked time and expenses.
- Lead Management Track potential new clients from the first phone call through the intake process to ensure no new business falls through the cracks.
- Mobile App Access your entire law firm from your pocket to view matter details, call clients, and track time while you are on the go.
Zapproved Features
- Automated Legal Holds. Send instant preservation notices to custodians and automate follow-up reminders to ensure 100% compliance without manual tracking.
- Custodian Portal. Provide your employees with a simple, branded portal where they can view, acknowledge, and manage all their active legal holds.
- Cloud-to-Cloud Collection. Collect data directly from sources like Office 365, Slack, and Box without requiring hardware or onsite IT support.
- Defensibility Tracking. Maintain a complete, tamper-proof audit trail of every action taken during a matter to prove compliance during discovery.
- Matter Management. Organize your litigation, third-party subpoenas, and internal investigations into a single dashboard for real-time visibility across all cases.
- HR System Integration. Sync your employee directory automatically so legal holds are updated immediately when people join, leave, or change roles.
Pricing Comparison
Smokeball Pricing
- Time and expense tracking
- Legal billing and invoicing
- Trust accounting
- Smokeball Payments integration
- Basic reporting
- Mobile app access
- Everything in Bill, plus:
- Full matter management
- Document management
- Email management with Outlook
- Tasks and workflows
- Shared firm calendar
Zapproved Pricing
Pros & Cons
Smokeball
Pros
- Automatic time tracking captures revenue you might otherwise miss
- Extensive library of automated legal forms saves hours of drafting
- Deep integration with Microsoft Word and Outlook streamlines workflows
- Excellent customer support and personalized onboarding experience
Cons
- Higher price point compared to some basic competitors
- Steep learning curve due to the vast feature set
- Full automation features require the desktop version
Zapproved
Pros
- Extremely intuitive interface requires very little training for new users
- Automated reminders significantly increase custodian response rates
- Excellent customer success team provides proactive support and guidance
- Simplifies complex legal hold tracking for thousands of employees
Cons
- Initial setup of data integrations can take significant time
- Reporting tools can feel rigid when creating highly custom exports
- Advanced collection features require higher-tier subscription packages