CARET Legal vs. Smokeball

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
CARET Legal
Score 7.9 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
CARET Legal, previously known as Zola Suite, is a solution for legal professionals to manage their practice and create space for what matters, including delighting clients and maximizing billable time.
$79
per month per user
Smokeball
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Smokeball in Chicago offers their flagship cloud-based legal case management application featuring time tracking, file and document management, billing, and legal form generation.N/A
Pricing
CARET LegalSmokeball
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CARET LegalSmokeball
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsEnterprise: $79/user/month (billed annually) or $89/user/month (billed monthly); Enterprise Plus: $89/user/month (billed annually) or $99/user/month (billed monthly); Enterprise Advance: $139/user/month (billed annually) or $149/user/month (billed monthly)—
More Pricing Information
User Ratings
CARET LegalSmokeball
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
CARET LegalSmokeball
Likelihood to Recommend
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
Well-suited to a small to midsized law firm setting. Would also recommend for management seek easy ways to keep track of a large volume of business and to track which staff are doing what. The software isn't the best suited for running a lot of complex reports--we can obtain simple information in the reports, but sometimes we find ourselves pulling certain data from Zola and working with it in other software environments instead.
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Smokeball
1. Small and medium-sized law firms: Smokeball is specifically designed for small and medium-sized law firms, making it well suited for this type of organization. 2. Firms looking to streamline their workflow: Smokeball's range of features, including document management, time tracking, email management, calendar management, and task management, make it well suited for firms looking to streamline their operations and increase efficiency. 3. Firms looking to improve collaboration: Smokeball's centralized document repository and task management system make it easy for teams to collaborate and access information, making it well suited for firms looking to improve collaboration among team members.
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Pros
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
  • Provide me with instant list of assignments.
  • Easily record billable hours.
  • Monitor the work of colleagues whom I supervise.
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Smokeball
  • Document Management: Smokeball provides a centralized document repository where users can store and organize all their case-related documents. This helps to improve document accessibility and collaboration among team members.
  • Time Tracking: Smokeball automatically tracks time spent on a case, eliminating the need for manual time tracking. This results in improved billing accuracy and helps the firm to accurately bill clients for the time spent on their cases.
  • Email Management: Smokeball integrates with a user's email account and automatically categorizes emails as they come in. This helps users to quickly find and access important emails, reducing the amount of time spent searching for information.
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Cons
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
  • The email integration feature has never consistently worked.
  • I can't toggle easily between viewing all time and just my time, have to use the filters.
  • Pulling reports to capture certain notes/details not perfected yet.
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Smokeball
  • User Interface: Some users have reported that the user interface could be improved to make it more user-friendly and intuitive.
  • Customer Support: Some users have reported long response times and inconsistent quality of customer support, which could be improved to provide better service to users
  • Mobile Accessibility: Currently, Smokeball does not have a mobile app, which limits accessibility for users who are frequently on the go.
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Alternatives Considered
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
I didn't have the ultimate decision-making power to choose Zola. Clio was more expensive and may have offered a more robust platform, but with some options we didn't need. Westlaw was good for case management, but we would have likely still needed separate software to patch together something like Zola. Zola support isn't that great, but we rarely need it.
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Smokeball
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
  • Collections have been better overall.
  • Verifying staff work has been made much easier, potentially leading to more efficiencies.
  • The software itself is costly.
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Smokeball
  • Increased efficiency
  • Improved accuracy
  • Improved collaboration
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ScreenShots

CARET Legal Screenshots

Screenshot of Contact ManagementScreenshot of CARET Legal practice management on all platformsScreenshot of Task ManagementScreenshot of Legal CalendarScreenshot of Document ManagementScreenshot of Matter Management