Getting Started with the Smokeball Precedent Library

Smokeball's Precedent Library is where you will find and generate automated documents and forms for your matter.

Access the Precedent Library

To access the Precedent Library, open a matter file and select Precedent from the Matter Action Bar.

Understanding different Precedent categories

Smokeball Precedents 

Smokeball Precedents are denoted by the “Smokeball” author in the Created by column.

These are common documents for your Matter Type created by the Smokeball Team. They include simple administrative documents that do not require any legal drafting and provide a starting point for building your own precedent library.

Check out our Marketplace Precedents if you are searching for a precedent that requires legal drafting.

• When a staff member makes changes to a Smokeball Precedent by updating the layout in Modify mode, the Last Modified column will be updated with their name.
  
• When a staff member creates a copy of a Smokeball Precedent, the copied document will display "Our Firm" in the Created by column and the staff member's name in the Last Modified column.
  

Court and Authority Forms

These are documents provided by courts, authorities and government bodies that are available to the public through their respective websites for free.

The Smokeball Legal Product Team constantly automate, update and add new Court and Authority Forms.

View the latest updates to Court and Authority Forms on our Release Notes.

If you don’t see a Court and Authority form here and would like to see it in Smokeball, you can place a request in the Precedent Library by providing a link to the form from the actual source here.

Marketplace Precedents

These are documents created by Precedent authors who are partnered with Smokeball. They span a wide variety of Matter Types and require an additional subscription to use. Learn more about Marketplace Precedents.

Searching in the Precedent Library

Select the arrow icon on the bottom-left corner of the Precedent Library to open the folder directory. 

Tip: Select Show all Precedent Profiles to also view Precedents outside of the current matter's Matter Type.

Use the Search bar on the top-right corner of the Precedent Library to find a specific Precedent.

Create a Precedent folder

Organise your most-used Precedents into folders by selecting Add a folder.

Add your own Precedent

If you want to automate your own Precedent or add an existing Precedent to the Precedent Library, select Add a Precedent. You can upload Word documents or PDFs. 

Request a Court and Authority Form

You can submit a request for the Smokeball Legal Product Team to add a publicly accessible Court and Authority Form (e.g. forms from government bodies). 

Add a shortcut to a Court and Authority Form folder

To access commonly used Court and Authority Form folders, add them as a shortcut to your main Precedent folders.

1. Open the Precedent folder you want to add a shortcut to (e.g. Conveyancing/Purchase)
2. Select Manage Form Shortcuts and click on a folder from the panel that opens up.
   
3. Click Add shortcut. The folder will appear in the directory.
   
4. Repeat for any other folders you want to add.

Additional tips

• Right-click is your best friend in the Precedent Library.
  • Right-clicking on a document allows you to access a wide range of actions, such as renaming, deleting or opening Precedents in Modify mode to edit them.
    
  • If you are having trouble finding a Precedent, use the Search bar on the top-right corner and click on Search all folders. This will search for the document across all Smokeball Precedents, Court and Authority Forms and Marketplace Precedents you are subscribed to.