Smokeball API
Programmatically access Smokeball matter data, contacts, documents, time & billing, trust accounting, and client communications with a stable REST API. Supergood builds and operates production-grade, unofficial Smokeball integrations so your team can automate legal workflows without heavy custom eng
What is Smokeball?
Smokeball is a cloud-based legal practice management platform with deep Microsoft 365/Outlook integration that helps law firms manage cases end-to-end. Firms use Smokeball to organize matters and parties, draft and store documents, file and track email, manage workflows and tasks, capture time (manually and automatically via AutoTime), bill clients, run trust accounting, and communicate securely with clients via a built-in portal.
Core product areas include:
- Matter Management (Matters, Parties/Related Contacts, Stages/Statuses, Custom Fields)
- Documents & Email (Document Storage, Versioning, Templates/Automation, Outlook Filing)
- Time & Billing (Time Entries, Fixed Fees, Disbursements/Expenses, Invoices, Payments)
- Trust Accounting (Trust Transactions, Retainers, Reconciliation Support)
- Tasks & Workflows (Checklists, Recurring Tasks, Approvals, SLA Tracking)
- Calendar & Docketing (Events, Reminders, Court Dates/Rules)
- Client Communication (Smokeball Communicate, Secure Messaging and File Sharing)
- Reporting & Insights (Matter Performance, Realization, WIP, AR, Staff Utilization)
Common data entities:
- Firms, Users, Roles/Permissions (Attorney, Paralegal, Support, Billing)
- Contacts (Clients, Opposing Counsel, Insurers, Courts, Vendors)
- Matters (Metadata, File/Matter IDs, Practice Area, Stage/Status, Key Dates)
- Documents and Emails (Folders, Versions, Attachments, Filing Metadata)
- Time Entries and Expenses (UTBMS/Activity Codes, Rates, Billable Flags)
- Invoices and Payments (Draft/Sent/Posted, Taxes, Write-offs, Adjustments)
- Trust Accounts and Transactions (Deposits, Transfers, Disbursements, Balances)
- Tasks/Workflows (Assignments, Due Dates, Templates)
- Calendar Events (Court Dates, Reminders, Attendees)
The Smokeball Integration Challenge
Legal teams run their day in Smokeball, but turning portal- and desktop-first workflows into API-driven automation isn’t trivial. Common pain points we hear from firms and legal tech vendors include:
- Limited public API: Many capabilities are partner-only or not exposed via a stable REST API, pushing teams toward brittle screen-scrapes, report exports, or manual workarounds.
- Desktop-centered flows: Deep Outlook and Windows app dependencies (e.g., email filing, document indexing, AutoTime) complicate headless automation.
- Trust accounting rigor: Compliance requirements and permissions around retainers, transfers, and client funds demand careful handling and auditability.
- Data spread across modules: Key context is split between matters, documents, emails, time/fees, invoices, and trust ledgers.
- Authentication complexity: MFA and session lifecycle management can break naive bots; regional product differences and role-based entitlements add nuance.
- Accounting sync gotchas: Double-posting, tax handling, and mapping cost codes/LEDES fields to QuickBooks/Xero require normalization.
How Supergood Creates Smokeball APIs
Supergood reverse-engineers authenticated browser and desktop-adjacent flows to deliver a resilient API endpoint layer for your Smokeball tenant.
- Handles username/password and MFA (SMS, email, TOTP) securely
- Maintains session continuity with automated refresh, consent flows, and change detection
- Normalizes responses so you integrate once and rely on consistent objects across modules
- Respects firm entitlements and role-based permissions (including trust accounting constraints)
- Supports document uploads/downloads with checksums and time-limited URLs
- Maps activity/LEDES codes and tax/ledger fields for accounting interoperability
Getting Started
- Schedule Integration Assessment
Book a 30-minute session to confirm your modules, licensing, and authentication model.
- Supergood Builds and Validates Your API
We deliver a hardened Smokeball adapter tailored to your workflows and entitlements.
- Deploy with Monitoring
Go live with continuous monitoring and automatic adjustments as Smokeball evolves.
Use Cases
Matter & Contact Data Sync
- Mirror matters, clients, and opposing parties into your internal systems - Keep matter metadata, stages, and key dates current for analytics and reporting - Normalize addresses, file numbers, and practice areas for multi-tenant operations
Time & Billing Automation
- Create time entries from product usage, phone logs, or AI summaries - Generate draft invoices and apply retainers/trust while enforcing firm rules - Reconcile WIP/AR and push summarized entries to accounting (e.g., QuickBooks, Xero)
Documents & Email Ingestion
- Ingest filed emails and document versions with matter-aware foldering - Attach evidence, filings, and correspondence from your platform - Trigger client portal shares and collect e-signatures via connected tools
Client Communication & Intake
- Push onboarding forms and intake data to create/update matters n- Send secure messages and file requests via Smokeball Communicate - Drive SLA alerts off approval states and due dates
Technical Specifications
Authentication
Username/password with MFA (SMS, email, TOTP); supports service accounts or customer-managed credentials
Response format
JSON with consistent resource schemas and pagination across modules
Rate limits
Tuned for enterprise throughput while honoring firm entitlements and usage controls
Session management
Automatic reauth and cookie/session rotation with health checks
Data freshness
Near real-time retrieval of matters, documents, time/fees, invoices, payments, and trust transactions
Security
Encrypted transport, scoped tokens, and audit logging; respects Smokeball role-based permissions and trust accounting constraints
Webhooks
Optional asynchronous delivery for long-running workflows (e.g., invoice posting, document processing, client approvals)
Latency
Sub-second responses for list/detail queries under normal load
Throughput
Designed for high-volume matter sync and time/billing processing
Reliability
Retry logic, backoff, and idempotency keys minimize duplicate actions
Adaptation
Continuous monitoring for UI/API changes with rapid adapter updates
Frequently asked questions
Supergood supports workflows across commonly used modules such as Matter Management (Matters, Contacts, Custom Fields), Documents & Email (folders, versions), Time & Billing (Time Entries, Expenses, Invoices, Payments), Trust Accounting (deposits, disbursements), and Client Communication (Communicate), subject to your licensing and entitlements. We scope coverage during integration assessment.
We support username/password + MFA (SMS, email, TOTP). Sessions are refreshed automatically with secure challenge handling and consent capture where required.
Yes. We normalize invoices, line items, taxes, and LEDES/activity codes to match your ERP/accounting schema and deliver updates via webhooks or polling while complying with rate and permission constraints. We commonly integrate with QuickBooks Online and Xero.
Yes. We support downloading filed emails and uploading documents via signed URLs with checksum validation and time-limited access. We preserve matter-aware folder paths, versioning, and authorship metadata in our normalized responses.