The best legal practice management software for ease of use

MyCase's compatibility article says the product runs in a web browser on both PC and Mac and that the type of computer makes no difference. MyCase Pro is our pick for firms that want browser-based matter work across PC and Mac, provided its email account requirements and daily-task workflows fit the staff using it. The Pro plan card names two-way texting, client intake forms, eSignature and Word-based document generation on one plan.

Smokeball's AutoTime article says the feature creates time entries overnight from the activity it records, once automatic creation is enabled for a user. Smokeball suits a Windows firm that puts that workflow first. Its pricing page includes AutoTime in Prosper+ and lists it as an add-on to Grow, and its system requirements run both plans as a desktop application on Windows.

What should a law firm weigh when ease of use decides the purchase?

An American Bar Association GPSolo eReport article on selecting case management software advises a firm to ask who will use the system and how long those people will need to learn it, and to try products before signing. The article's reasoning is that software that staff find hard to get around discourages use and leads to inconsistent data entry. An earlier GPSolo guide to choosing practice management software lists usability beside pricing and features as selection concerns. So the usability evidence to request from each vendor is time in the product for the people who will work in it: a trial or a demonstration where they open a matter, find a document, message a client and record time.

Smokeball's system requirements assign its Grow and Prosper+ plans to a desktop application on Windows and mark Mac OS unsupported for them. MyCase's email integration article connects one email provider to each user account, Gmail or Outlook, and lets different users in a firm choose differently. List each person's computer and mailbox before a demonstration and use the list to select the plan.

MyCase's Basic tier article lists eSignature, client intake forms, two-way texting and document generation among the features its Basic plan leaves out. Smokeball's Intake guide includes Intake in Prosper+ and makes it an add-on for Grow and Boost. A daily task outside the plan a firm buys has to be added to the order or done in another tool. Match the client portal, texting, intake forms, templates and e-signature to a named plan on each side before the demonstration.

The ABA article on selecting software notes that products differ in automatic time tracking. MyCase's Smart Time Finder article describes a list of the day's recorded activity from which the user creates each time entry. Smokeball's AutoTime article describes entries created overnight when automatic creation is enabled for that user. The step to compare is who turns recorded activity into a time entry, and your timekeepers are the people to say which routine they would keep up.

MyCase's free trial article describes a 10-day trial that needs no credit card. Smokeball's pricing page says every plan includes onboarding, and trial length is a question to put to Smokeball with the quote request. Onboarding terms decide who sets up the account and who moves the firm's records. Ask each vendor which records it imports and which the firm brings in itself.

MyCase and Smokeball on computers, plans, time capture and onboarding

MyCase: browser access on PC and Mac with the daily tasks on Pro

MyCase's compatibility article describes a product that runs in a web browser, on PC and Mac alike. Its browser article for the main application lists the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox and recommends Chrome. The client portal browser article covers the client side separately and lists Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge.

The Gmail add-on guide installs the add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace and uses it to link emails and their attachments to cases and to add time entries from the inbox. The Outlook add-in guide places the add-in on the Pro and Advanced tiers and requires Outlook 2016 or later with a Microsoft 365 subscription that includes Exchange Online. That guide excludes local Exchange servers and third-party Microsoft 365 accounts such as GoDaddy, and the add-in is not available in mobile apps, so MyCase fits less well for a firm whose mail runs on one of those accounts.

The Pro plan card lists two-way texting, client intake forms, eSignature and document generation from Word-based templates. The Basic tier article leaves all four out of Basic. It also limits the Basic client portal to events, tasks and invoices and places portal Messages among the features Basic lacks.

For eSignature, the overview article has a user upload a PDF or Word document to a case's Documents tab, add signers, place the fields and send. Intake forms carry conditional logic and go out by email or as a form embedded on a website, per the intake forms article. In the text messaging article, clients can send images to the firm and the firm cannot send images to clients.

Smart Time Finder records activity inside MyCase through the day, such as logged calls, messages to a contact, new notes and completed tasks, and presents it as an end-of-day list. The user creates a time entry for each item to bill and can mark an item already tracked or hide it. Nothing on the list counts as billable time until the user creates the entry. MyCase's time tracking page places Smart Time Finder on the Pro and Advanced plans.

The Pro tier article says Pro users have guided implementation and live training sessions along with support. MyCase's guided implementation article assigns an onboarding manager and assisted import to eligible firms, which it defines as new firms that meet a minimum user count. The self-service route in the migration article covers cases, contacts, companies, unbilled time entries and expenses. Ask during the trial whether your firm meets that user count.

Smokeball: a Windows desktop application with overnight AutoTime entries

Smokeball's pricing page names four plans: Bill, Boost, Grow and Prosper+. The system requirements run Grow and Prosper+ as a locally installed desktop application on Windows 11 64-bit and list Mac OS as unsupported for those two plans. Boost and Bill open in a browser, with Chrome listed for PC and Mac.

The New Outlook add-in article supports Microsoft 365 Business and Education accounts and Microsoft 365 hosted by GoDaddy, in Outlook on Windows, on Mac and on the web. Personal Microsoft accounts such as Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live are outside its scope. The Mac entry describes the add-in and is separate from the desktop application that Grow and Prosper+ require. Smokeball's Gmail integration article offers a Gmail add-on to Boost firms only and says none is planned for Grow or Prosper+.

The Boost card on the pricing page lists a client portal, eSignature and Communicate. Grow adds practice-area templates and document automation, and Prosper+ adds Intake, which the Intake guide offers to Boost and Grow firms as an add-on. The TemplateLab article is labeled for Grow and Prosper+, and the template creation steps open a document in Microsoft Word and add Smokeball fields to it. For texting, the Communicate article documents a desktop message procedure with an option to send the message as an SMS, so have the order state the texting entitlement for the plan you choose.

AutoTime records activity as a user works in Smokeball, with matter administration, documents, email, memos and tasks among the kinds it captures. Each night it turns that activity into time entries, provided automatic creation is enabled for the user. With the setting off, the activity keeps recording and the user converts it to time by hand. The pricing page includes AutoTime in Prosper+ and offers it to Grow firms as an add-on.

Every plan includes onboarding, the pricing page says. The first-steps article for new firms starts with an account setup form covering staff and users and continues to a configuration call. The onboarding plan adds a welcome call with a Client Success Manager and Foundations training. During onboarding Smokeball offers a basic import of contacts and matters from data the firm exports. Its migrations overview describes Jumpstart, ProStart and PartnerStart as separate options, with ProStart a paid service for eligible larger firms, and says not all data can be migrated.

Which legal practice management software is best for ease of use?

MyCase Pro is our pick for firms that want browser-based matter work across PC and Mac, provided its email account requirements and daily-task workflows fit the staff using it. We weight computer access and plan scope first for this buyer, because a person has to be able to open the software on the computer they already use, with the daily tasks inside the plan, before a trial can show how the work goes. MyCase's documentation puts the main application in a browser on PC and Mac and names texting, intake forms, eSignature and document generation on Pro, and its trial needs no credit card. Smokeball has the advantage on time capture: with automatic creation enabled, AutoTime creates the time entries overnight on the Windows desktop plans that carry it, and MyCase's Smart Time Finder leaves each entry for the user to create from its list. Access and plan scope weigh more here because they reach every person in the firm, and time entry is one task among the daily ones.

Smokeball is the better pick for a firm that works on Windows and wants AutoTime to create its time entries overnight. Prosper+ includes AutoTime and Intake, and Grow takes AutoTime as an add-on. Check the firm's Microsoft 365 account type against the list in the New Outlook add-in article before you order.

Other legal practice management software providers