As we look at today’s legal landscape, the Smokeball team is in awe of how rapidly the legal community has adopted new ways to attract and serve clients since the global pandemic began in 2020. Smokeball surveyed 200 law firms with less than 30 employees across the United States to better understand these industry shifts and emerging trends. In three short years, legal professionals have learned how to work from anywhere, provide clients with the same (or better) levels of service remotely, and run their law firms as efficient, profitable businesses.

But there is still a long road ahead to harness the true power of adopted technology. The next era will focus on streamlining: unifying systems to improve law firms’ workflows, increase profits, and better support client relationships.

Smokeball designed this guide to help you understand and overcome your automation gap so you can offload all the work you don't want to do on a cloud-based platform. We'll walk through all the tasks your firm can automate, how to implement automation and measure your success.

Automation doesn't happen overnight, but you can transform your entire practice with the right tools, strategy, and action plan. Let's get started.

It's never been a secret that law has historically been slow to evolve and adapt alongside other professions. When Smokeball released the last version of this guide, “Is Legal Practice Management Software Worth It?” we acknowledged that many firms still avoided change due to fear or stubbornness. Such firms could still maintain their status quo without the help of software.

In 2022, the question of worth no longer applies: Legal practice management software is a necessity, not a nice-to-have. The shift to remote/hybrid law offices is permanent, and attorneys must permanently shift their mindsets and processes to keep up — and keep ahead.

Smokeball understands that legal practice management software is a major investment of your firm’s money and time. Because we want to give you the most value and productivity for your investment, we updated this guide to reflect the reality of 2022. The legal landscape has shifted significantly since you started your practice. Let’s take advantage of the opportunity together.

Deciding to change the technology your firm uses to manage cases, clients and billing requires commitment to see the process. Quite frankly, it’s not always easy. If your team is accustomed to working with a certain type of legal practice management software, change is difficult, even when everyone acknowledges that doing so is necessary.

If you're stuck and unable to move forward with transforming how your law firm uses technology, this guide will help you navigate the process. Along the journey, remember to give yourself and your team credit. Make no mistake, staying up to date with technology is no longer optional; it is a requirement.