Week 1 · free$0
Enable automatic time capture for every fee earner and make the morning review of yesterday's entries the firm habit — captured, reviewed, billed.
Software: Smokeball AutoTime
Cost note: Included on Prosper+; an add-on on Grow
AI Guides / law
AI and automation for law firms
Practical ways to save time, capture more enquiries, and use the tools you already have.
A small firm leaks money in six-minute units — the calls and emails that never reach the timesheet — and leaks risk on the deadline calendar, where a missed limitation date is an insurance claim, not a lost sale. Your practice software was built for both: passive time capture that reconstructs the day for you, and matter-driven dates that don't rely on anyone's memory. The one hard rule underneath everything: nothing generated goes to a court or a client unverified.
Written for an owner who has never set up a single one of these things. Start at step one, which is free and takes an afternoon, and stop whenever you have had enough — nothing further down is needed for anything above it to work.
Prices checked 27 July 2026 · no affiliate links on this page or any other
The whole page, in order
Week 2$0
Audit the matter-type task lists: every matter type carries its critical dates and standard steps automatically, so no deadline lives only in someone's head.
Software: Matter-type tasks and critical dates in your practice platform
Cost note: Included if matter-type automation is in your current plan
Week 3$0
Move the five most-used letters and forms onto precedents that fill from matter data — faster, and no more last-client artifacts in this client's documents.
Software: Smokeball or LEAP precedents
Cost note: Included in your practice platform subscription
Week 4 · measure$0
Count recovered units per fee earner from passive capture, enquiries answered same-day with a booked consult, and unbilled WIP over sixty days. Only then decide whether anything needs building.
Software: Practice-platform time and WIP reports
Cost note: No additional software
Step one · start here
What your current law firms software may already include
If you already use Smokeball, Your practice platform, these features are settings inside those products, not another subscription. Your current plan still needs to include the feature. If you use something else, skip that card and search your software’s help centre for the named feature before you buy anything.
Extra software cost
$0*
if included in your plan
Features ready
3
Task 1
saves recovered billable unitsSmokeball (Prosper+, add-on on Grow) → AutoTime passive time capture
Why it matters
Activity across emails, documents, calls and matter work tracked in the background and converted nightly into time entries for review — the six-minute units that die in reconstruction, recovered by settings. Enabled per user under Staff & Users, and off until someone does it.
What to do
Open the official guide below. In Smokeball (Prosper+, add-on on Grow), find “AutoTime passive time capture”. Follow the guide once, switch it on for one real job or customer first, and check that it did exactly what you expected before using it everywhere.
Open the official setup guide ↗1 hour per user · $0 extra if included in your current plan
Task 2
saves ≈2–4 units/fee earner/wkSmokeball → Time Finder — the unbilled-activity sweep
Why it matters
A review pane surfacing tracked activity that never became a fee entry — the leak detector for anything AutoTime's nightly run didn't convert, run before invoicing.
What to do
Open the official guide below. In Smokeball, find “Time Finder — the unbilled-activity sweep”. Follow the guide once, switch it on for one real job or customer first, and check that it did exactly what you expected before using it everywhere.
Open the official setup guide ↗30 minutes per cycle · $0 extra if included in your current plan
Task 3
saves risk, then hoursYour practice platform → Matter-type tasks and critical dates
Why it matters
Matter templates that attach the standard steps and dates the moment a file opens — the limitation date and court timetable machinery that exists in every serious legal platform and gets configured in almost none.
What to do
Open the official guide below. In Your practice platform, find “Matter-type tasks and critical dates”. Follow the guide once, switch it on for one real job or customer first, and check that it did exactly what you expected before using it everywhere.
Open the official setup guide ↗1 day per matter type · $0 extra if included in your current plan
If your software is not named above, the equivalent switch often still exists. Search its help centre for the exact feature name before you buy another tool.
Step two · first workflow to implement
An intake form and booking link with a conflicts step: Answer the enquiry with a booked consultation.
A person with a legal problem calls three firms and retains the one that answered like it wanted the matter. Same-day response with a consultation booked — and a conflicts check triggered — converts at rates the profession's callback culture never will.
Do this in order
- 1. Build a short intake form that captures the matter type, the other side's name, and the outcome the person wants. The other side's name is what makes the conflicts check possible.
- 2. Publish a consultation booking type and set the hours a fee earner will actually take a first consultation.
- 3. Run the conflicts check against the submitted names before the consultation is confirmed, and make one person responsible for clearing it.
- 4. Submit a test enquiry from an outside address. Confirm the conflicts step runs before confirmation, and that nothing in the automatic reply reads as legal advice.
Typical size
every enquiry
Setup
1 day
What to use
An intake form and booking link with a conflicts step
Route: Small build
How you know it worked
Count it in week one, then count the same thing again in week four. If the number did not move, stop spending.
Do not want to set it up yourself?
In Speed to Lead. Or take the Diagnostic before hiring anyone.
Step three · keep going without adding complexity
Once step two works, take the next three jobs in this order.
Do not start all three at once. Finish one, test it on real work, then move to the next card.
AutoTime + Time Finderper fee earner, weekly
Recover the units that never hit the timesheet
Passive capture plus a five-minute morning review turns yesterday's forgotten calls and email reviews into billed work. Across a firm, the recovered units are the cheapest revenue in practice — already earned, previously evaporating.
1 hour · In Speed to Lead
Platform WIP reportsmonthly, all matters
Chase the unbilled WIP before it goes stale
Work in progress older than sixty days gets harder to bill every week it ages — the client's memory of the value fades faster than yours. A monthly WIP-aging review with a billing decision per matter keeps the lockup honest.
2 hours · We do it · $690
Closing checklist + templateevery favourable close
Ask for the review at the matter's good ending
The settlement that landed, the purchase that completed, the estate finalised — the close of a well-run matter is the one moment clients volunteer goodwill. One message with the review link, sent as a closing step, builds the profile that wins the next enquiry.
1 hour · In Speed to Lead
Step four · only once the first three are running
These are useful, but they are not the place to begin.
This is the first point where a real build may be worth paying for. The earlier steps need to be working before you add it.
Referrer list + templates≈10 active referrers
Stay in front of the referrers
Conveyancers feed from agents and brokers, family lawyers from accountants and counsellors, commercial firms from advisors. A closing courtesy note per referred matter and a quarterly touch keeps the referral tap open — and its absence quietly closes it.
Half a day · We do it · $690
What this page is automating
What “AI” actually means here.
Almost everything above is a computer sending a message at a moment when nobody was going to send one. That is it. No robot and no replacement for professional judgement.
If you already use one of the products named in step one, those cards are settings inside that product. If you do not, skip the card. This page is not claiming that you already own it.
It is
A message going out because a call, date or status changed.
It is not
Something that decides what to charge or replaces professional judgement.
It is
A reminder sent from records your business already keeps.
It is not
A replacement for you, your trade, or the people who know the work.
Does this look familiar?
These are the problems the named tools above are meant to remove.
01
Answer the enquiry with a booked consultation
02
Recover the units that never hit the timesheet
03
Chase the unbilled WIP before it goes stale
04
Ask for the review at the matter's good ending
05
Stay in front of the referrers
06
Generate documents from matter data, not the last file
After thirty days
Four numbers. If they have not moved, stop and do not spend another dollar.
Number one
Answer the enquiry with a booked consultation
Write down the current monthly number before you switch anything on. Compare it with the same number after thirty days.
Number two
Recover the units that never hit the timesheet
Count it the same way in week one and week four. Do not change the definition halfway through.
Number three
AutoTime passive time capture
Use the history inside your existing software to count how often the automation actually ran.
Number four
Hours given back
Ask the person doing the work now. They will know before a dashboard does.
Every figure on this page is a typical size, not a measurement of yours. These four are the numbers that are actually about your business.
Reference · come back to this
The full list, once the first four are done.
Nothing here is urgent and nothing here is a starting point. It is the complete set for this business, in rough order of what it returns, with the tool, effort, and done-for-you route on every row.
Wins work
01
Answer the enquiry with a booked consultation with Intake form + booking link + conflicts step
A person with a legal problem calls three firms and retains the one that answered like it wanted the matter. Same-day response with a consultation booked — and a conflicts check triggered — converts at rates the profession's callback culture never will.
- Typical size
- every enquiry
- Buy or build
- Small build · Intake form + booking link + conflicts step
- Effort
- 1 day
- Done for you
- In Speed to Lead
02
Recover the units that never hit the timesheet with AutoTime + Time Finder
Passive capture plus a five-minute morning review turns yesterday's forgotten calls and email reviews into billed work. Across a firm, the recovered units are the cheapest revenue in practice — already earned, previously evaporating.
- Typical size
- per fee earner, weekly
- Buy or build
- Already paid for · AutoTime + Time Finder
- Effort
- 1 hour
- Done for you
- In Speed to Lead
03
Chase the unbilled WIP before it goes stale
Work in progress older than sixty days gets harder to bill every week it ages — the client's memory of the value fades faster than yours. A monthly WIP-aging review with a billing decision per matter keeps the lockup honest.
- Typical size
- monthly, all matters
- Buy or build
- Already paid for · Platform WIP reports
- Effort
- 2 hours
- Done for you
- We do it · $690
04
Ask for the review at the matter's good ending with Closing checklist + template
The settlement that landed, the purchase that completed, the estate finalised — the close of a well-run matter is the one moment clients volunteer goodwill. One message with the review link, sent as a closing step, builds the profile that wins the next enquiry.
- Typical size
- every favourable close
- Buy or build
- Small build · Closing checklist + template
- Effort
- 1 hour
- Done for you
- In Speed to Lead
05
Stay in front of the referrers with Referrer list + templates
Conveyancers feed from agents and brokers, family lawyers from accountants and counsellors, commercial firms from advisors. A closing courtesy note per referred matter and a quarterly touch keeps the referral tap open — and its absence quietly closes it.
- Typical size
- ≈10 active referrers
- Buy or build
- Small build · Referrer list + templates
- Effort
- Half a day
- Done for you
- We do it · $690
Saves hours
06
Generate documents from matter data, not the last file
Letters and court forms filled from the matter's parties, dates and details — faster than find-and-replace, and structurally incapable of leaking the previous client's name into this client's document.
- Typical size
- 6 hrs/mo
- Buy or build
- Already paid for · Platform precedents / forms library
- Effort
- 1 day
- Done for you
- We do it · $1,200
07
File every email against its matter
Matter-linked email means the whole file — correspondence, attachments, history — is searchable by anyone on the matter, and the departed paralegal's inbox stops being a discovery problem.
- Typical size
- 5 hrs/mo
- Buy or build
- Already paid for · Platform email integration
- Effort
- 2 hours
- Done for you
- We do it · $390
08
Let the matter type set the dates with Matter-type automation
Standard steps, court timetables and critical dates attached automatically at file-open — the diary system that doesn't depend on the person who was away that day.
- Typical size
- 4 hrs/mo, plus the claim it prevents
- Buy or build
- Already paid for · Matter-type automation
- Effort
- 1 day
- Done for you
- We do it · $1,200
09
Send the client updates before they call with Stage-triggered templates
A short templated status note at each matter stage — filed, listed, awaiting response — pre-empts the where-are-we calls that consume unbillable hours and goodwill in equal measure.
- Typical size
- 5 hrs/mo
- Buy or build
- Already paid for · Stage-triggered templates
- Effort
- Half a day
- Done for you
- We do it · $690
10
Take payments and plans without the chase
Card payments on invoices and structured payment plans through the platform — collections handled by machinery, with trust-money rules never touched by anything outside the compliant system.
- Typical size
- 4 hrs/mo
- Buy or build
- Already paid for · Platform payments
- Effort
- Half a day
- Done for you
- We do it · $390
11
Answer the firm's questions once with ChatGPT Team
Fee scales, precedent locations, court filing procedures, firm policies — one internal place to ask, loaded from firm documents, never from client matter files.
- Typical size
- 4 hrs/mo
- Buy or build
- Buy · ChatGPT Team, $25/user
- Effort
- 2 days
- Done for you
- We do it · $1,200
The stack · prices checked
The tools named, priced, and judged.
Prices checked 27 July 2026.
| Tool | What it is for | Price | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practice managementSmokeball | Matter management with passive time capture, forms automation and matter-type workflows. | On quote, tiered ↗ | AutoTime is the standout — but it's included on Prosper+ and a paid add-on on Grow, so price the tier that has the feature this page is built on. Desktop-app-centric; check the fit for a Mac-based firm. |
| Practice managementLEAP | The AU small-firm incumbent with a deep court-forms and precedent library. | Per user, on quote ↗ | If you're on it, the forms library and matter automation cover most of this page — configure before comparing. Its time capture is more manual than Smokeball's; the morning-review habit matters more here. |
| Practice managementActionstep / Clio | The workflow-heavy and the cloud-global alternatives respectively. | Per user, tiered ↗ | Both credible; the deciding questions for a small AU firm are local court-form coverage, trust-accounting compliance for your state, and migration pain. A platform switch is a year — don't do it for one feature. |
| ProductivityMicrosoft 365 | Word and Outlook — the surfaces your practice platform integrates with and your time capture watches. | From $12.60/user ↗ | You have it. The integration depth between it and your practice platform is worth an hour of configuration — that's where the passive capture and email filing actually live. |
| SchedulingCalendly (or Microsoft Bookings) | The consultation booking link that makes same-day intake real. | Free tier ↗ | Free tier suffices. Put the conflicts-check question in the intake form, not after the meeting is booked. |
| Phone & messagingOpenPhone | A firm number with shared inbox and a searchable call log. | $19/user ↗ | The searchable thread is genuinely useful in a business where who-said-what matters. Check your practice platform's own call logging first. |
| AutomationMake.com | The referrer touches and review-ask sequences outside the platform. | $9/mo ↗ | Names and dates only — matter content never leaves the practice platform, and nothing touching trust money goes anywhere near a scenario. Few and auditable. |
| AssistantChatGPT Team | Internal firm-process questions from your own documents. | $25/user ↗ | Useful for procedure and policy questions. It never sees matter files, and anything resembling legal analysis it produces is a draft for a practitioner's verification — courts have sanctioned lawyers over fabricated generated citations, and the citation-checking habit is not optional. |
Do not bother
Three things not to buy yet.
Generated court documents without verification.
Lawyers in multiple jurisdictions have been sanctioned for filing AI-fabricated citations. Generation can draft; the practitioner verifies every authority, every fact, every figure before anything carries the firm's name — because the sanction, and the headline, are yours.
A website chatbot that answers legal questions.
A specific answer to a specific person's legal question is legal advice, with everything that attaches to it — conflicts unchecked, retainer unformed, liability live. Capture the enquiry, run conflicts, book the consultation. The bot books; it never advises.
Automating trust accounting outside your legal platform.
Trust money is strict-liability, audited, and career-ending to get wrong. It moves only inside the compliant system built and certified for it — no spreadsheet sync, no third-party automation, no exceptions for convenience.
Sources
Sources used for this playbook.
product docs
Smokeball — AutoTime setup: per-user enablement under Staff & Users, activity tracking across emails, documents, calls and matter work ↗product docs
Smokeball — AutoTime basics: nightly conversion of tracked activity into reviewable time entries; per-user settings ↗product docs
Smokeball — Time Finder: surfacing tracked activity not yet converted to fee entries ↗product docs
Smokeball — AutoTime feature page: Word/Outlook tracking assigned to matters; included in Prosper+, add-on for Grow ↗product docs
Clio — pricing tiers for comparison ↗product docs
Microsoft 365 Business — AU pricing ↗independent study
Harvard Business Review — The Short Life of Online Sales Leads (response timing, applied to legal intake) ↗
Smokeball — AutoTime setup: per-user enablement under Staff & Users, activity tracking across emails, documents, calls and matter work ↗product docs
Smokeball — AutoTime basics: nightly conversion of tracked activity into reviewable time entries; per-user settings ↗product docs
Smokeball — Time Finder: surfacing tracked activity not yet converted to fee entries ↗product docs
Smokeball — AutoTime feature page: Word/Outlook tracking assigned to matters; included in Prosper+, add-on for Grow ↗product docs
Clio — pricing tiers for comparison ↗product docs
Microsoft 365 Business — AU pricing ↗independent study
Harvard Business Review — The Short Life of Online Sales Leads (response timing, applied to legal intake) ↗
Nearby trades
Guides for businesses that run the same way
Prices change. I recheck them quarterly — want the update for Law Firms?
Nothing on this page is gated. This is the price recheck only, and you can leave at any time.
Do it yourself
Keep this page. It is free.
Use the official links, do one card at a time, and count the result after thirty days.
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