Carr Legal Group

‍Area of Law: Conveyancing, Mediation, Family Law, Wills & Estates

Firm size: 7

Location: Tamworth, NSW

Benefits of using Smokeball

* Best for billing reliability

* Capturing billable time

* Archie AI assists with drafting, summarising, and other communications

When Samantha Keogh, Carr Legal Group's office manager joined the firm in 2019, the business had been running with a small team of four. Fast forward to today: where the firm, led by Principal Solicitor Kevin Carr, has grown to seven staff members, with a lot changing along the way.

As office manager, Samantha’s role has evolved significantly since she started. She currently oversees operations across the firm, managing matters, checking in with both clients and staff, managing billing, and working with Kevin to ensure a smooth running of the practice.

Carr Legal Group made the switch to Smokeball in 2019, transitioning over from their previous practice management system after one of their solicitors presented Smokeball as a more streamlined, cost-friendly, and value-added option. “One of the biggest drawcards was the cost, and what we would get with Smokeball for that cost. There was just so much more bang for your buck.”

The billing challenges before Smokeball

Looking back, the inefficiencies of their previous PMS are clear, even if they weren’t fully visible at the time. Billing was a particular pain point, often consuming an entire day each month because of how manual and drawn-out the processes were. Work-in-progress management was similarly cumbersome.

"When we switched over to Smokeball, it opened our eyes," Samantha says. "We thought, what were we doing before? It was almost confronting." Shortly after switching to Smokeball, the firm moved to larger premises and hired three additional staff members, seeing an increase in profitability, which Samantha believes is not hard to make the connection after coming onboard with Smokeball.

"In five years, we've had just one client question a bill. Once."

Archie AI has made a difference

Day to day, it's Smokeball’s integrations and billing capabilities that have helped drive efficiency, however its Archie AI, Smokeball’s AI matter assistant that has made the most stand-out difference. Becoming a go-to for Samantha, she uses Archie for everything: summarising emails, drafting client-ready memos from a complex report, or using it to navigate tricky communication. “ I love Archie as I’m all about being efficient and working smarter, not harder”, says Samantha. “There have been a few times where I haven’t been sure how to do something, and I’ve put it into Archie. You can use the prompts, it can really help you get a baseline with certain tasks”.

Samantha’s advice to any firm hesitant about switching from their current PMS to Smokeball,” It can be terrifying, especially if you've been with a system for so long and you're so used to doing things a certain way. But we have no regrets whatsoever now we’re with Smokeball”. She especially credits the team at Smokeball for being there to help every step of the way during their transition period. Given how far Carr Legal Group has come in headcount, capacity, and confidence, the decision to switch has paid off.

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