PCLaw vs. Smokeball

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
PCLaw
Score 6.0 out of 10
N/A
PCLaw is offered as an all-in-one billing, legal accounting, and matter management solution, from PCLaw | Time Matters, a joint venture spun out of LexisNexis in collaboration with LEAP in 2019.N/A
Smokeball
Score 8.2 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
PCLawSmokeball
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
PCLawSmokeball
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
PCLawSmokeball
Considered Both Products
PCLaw
Chose PCLaw
PCLaw is still the only product that provides both front office (practice management/calendaring) and back office (accounting) solutions for a law firm in one product.
Chose PCLaw
PC Law is quicker and cheaper. With Cosmolex, I found that I waited a little longer for reports and documents to generate and for transactions to be saved. In all other areas, I found Cosmolex to be better as it is more intuitive to use and the user interface is clean and easy …
Chose PCLaw
All legal accounting and billing software applications have their own flaws. PCLaw, as has been stated, has not had significant investment in features and functionality in quite a few years. That being said, it still gets the job done. There may be issues with the link system …
Chose PCLaw
I have not used any particular products that are similar to LexisNexis PCLaw. It is somewhat of an odd hybrid in that it is designed to assist with law practice management and therefore cuts across multiple specialties from billing/accounts receivable to lawyers and staff who …
Chose PCLaw
Juris seems to be a larger version of PCLaw. It's very similar as far as inputting time/expenses into the system. The software is more modern than PCLaw, but I've had peers mention that it is a lot more buggy for that reason. They have had issues with Juris, mentioning that …
Smokeball
Chose Smokeball
Smokeball felt simpler for us because the automatic time tracking works better than Clio’s.
User Ratings
PCLawSmokeball
Likelihood to Recommend
7.8
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
7.5
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
PCLawSmokeball
Likelihood to Recommend
PCLaw is well suited for small to medium sized law firms with minimal accounting and bookkeeping needs. The software provides basic case management functions, and I've encountered issues with viewing or organizing new documents. The software crashes and freezes often, especially when multiple users are trying to access it at the same time. The user interface is a bit outdated but still very easy to navigate. You have to pay more for the cloud-based version of the software and it does not allow software integrations or workflow automations. I would recommend using this software only for billing/accounting purposes and subsidizing case management with more modernized products
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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
  • Link to practice management software to synchronize clients.
  • Provide structured and organized system for accounting.
  • Excellent tool for capturing time entries and keeping employees accountable.
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  • 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
  • Generating bills sometimes comes with errors that are not easy to identify
  • Troubleshooting errors in billing is sometimes tricky
  • No other issues!
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  • 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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Usability
The software may not be pretty, but it works. It could use a facelift but the functionality is still there. Personally, I would like to see an investment to make it prettier, but again, function over fashion. It is not a client-facing application, so internal use does not need to be razzle-dazzle.
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some parts are easy enough to use, but others are clunky, require extra steps, or aren’t intuitive, which makes the overall experience just average.
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Support Rating
I've always had positive phone calls with PCLaw support. I usually have my questions answered within a few minutes of my phone call, and rarely have to go into very much detail
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
PC Law is quicker and cheaper. With CosmoLex, I found that I waited a little longer for reports and documents to generate and for transactions to be saved. In all other areas, I found CosmoLex to be better as it is more intuitive to use and the user interface is clean and easy to use. CosmoLex does not provide a receipt when receiving funds for some reason, which is something that I like about PC Law. When entering data, you can enter the data for multiple entries at a time whereas with CosmoLex, you enter the data for one transaction/billing/expense/etc, and then you have to save it before going on to do another entry. This doesn't take too long, but there is often a delay of a few seconds which is very frustrating when you are used to the speed of PC Law.
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Smokeball had more features and the customer support is incredible!
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Return on Investment
  • We are able to send out bills efficiently, which helps our cash flow and keeps receivables down (depending on the client).
  • We are able to pull detailed accounting reports, which helps us populate our end of the quarter/year spreadsheet for partner's net income.
  • Our attorneys are very comfortable with the pre-bill/billing process, so it saves them time, allowing them to bill more.
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  • Increased efficiency
  • Improved accuracy
  • Improved collaboration
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ScreenShots