Intake that opens the matter
Answers from your website or phone intake create the contact and matter in Smokeball for staff to review.
Smokeball integration consulting
Connect Smokeball to the rest of your firm.
Smokeball keeps matters, documents, time and billing together, with automatic time tracking and a large forms library. We build the connections and tools around it, so work that arrives elsewhere reaches the matter without being retyped.
Keep it, then extend it
What Smokeball does well, and where teams outgrow it.
Where Smokeball shines
- Time captured automaticallySmokeball records time as staff work on a matter, so less billable work goes unrecorded.
- Forms and matter types by practice areaA library of automated legal forms and practice-area workflows keeps each matter consistent.
- Close to Word and OutlookSmokeball works closely with Microsoft Word and Outlook, where much of a firm's day already happens.
Where teams hit the limits
- Intake that starts elsewhereWebsite forms, phone calls and referral emails arrive outside Smokeball, and someone keys them into a new matter.
- Documents read by handCourt notices, records and letters still get read, and their dates and parties typed in.
- Reports that mix systemsReports that combine Smokeball data with marketing, accounting or case outcomes get built in spreadsheets.
What we build around it
Connecting Smokeball to the rest of your work.
Key dates from incoming documents
Software pulls dates and parties from notices, and a person confirms them before they reach the calendar.
Files kept in step
When documents are added or changed in Smokeball, the right people and systems hear about it straight away.
Drafts from matter details
Routine letters are drafted from Smokeball data using your approved templates, ready for attorney review.
Smokeball and your accounting in step
Invoices and payments stay matched between Smokeball and the firm's books.
Firm reporting across systems
Matter, billing and marketing data come together in one scheduled partner report.
Before we start
How access works.
Smokeball supports private connections built for a single firm. Your firm requests API access through its Smokeball account manager, and the connection is set up as a private app used only by your firm, not listed in Smokeball's marketplace (see Smokeball's developer docs). We build and test in Smokeball's staging environment first, and every app completes Smokeball's security risk assessment before it goes live. Smokeball can also notify a connection when files are added or changed, so tools react without constant checking. Using Clio instead? See our Clio page.
Industries
Where this comes up most.
Related problems
Common places to start.
Messy client onboarding
You just won the work. Now come the forms, follow-ups and handoffs. It's your client's first real experience of you, and it often feels like chaos.
Read moreDocuments piling up
Contracts, forms, invoices, reports. The information your business needs is locked inside PDFs, and someone has to read each one.
Read moreReports built by hand
Every month, someone exports from four systems, pastes it all into a spreadsheet and fixes what looks wrong. By the time it's ready, the numbers are old.
Read more
FAQ
Common questions.
Do we have to replace Smokeball?
No. Smokeball stays your practice management system. We build around it and connect what it doesn't reach.
What do we need from Smokeball before you start?
API access requested through your Smokeball account manager. We help you ask for the right thing and confirm access before quoting.
Will this break when Smokeball updates?
We use only Smokeball's supported connection, test in its staging environment and add checks that alert us if something stops working.
Will AI give legal advice inside Smokeball?
No. Our tools organize, draft and check. An attorney reviews the work and makes the legal calls.
Are you a certified Smokeball partner?
No. We're an independent integration consultant and development team. We build with Smokeball's official developer tools and approved access, using the access your team grants, and we work alongside your Smokeball admin or implementation partner rather than replacing them.
Sources
- Smokeball developer docs: Get started overview
- Smokeball developer docs: Creating an app (public and private apps)
- Smokeball developer docs: Developer console
- Smokeball API docs: Introduction (regions, environments, throttling)
- Smokeball: Legal practice management software
Facts checked against the vendor's own documentation, November 2026. Names are trademarks of their owners. Inkwell is independent and not affiliated with these companies.
Partner with Inkwell
Tell us how you use Smokeball today.
A few sentences is plenty. We'll tell you what we'd connect first, and whether a ready-made app already does the job.