LawToolBox

Smokeball offers integration with LawToolBox. Courts around the United States sometimes set strict deadlines by which litigants must complete certain actions. LawToolBox is a deadline calculation software that streamlines the process of creating court-appointed deadlines. Smokeball and LawToolBox work together to create and edit deadlines, track time when working on those deadlines, and enable the viewing of LawToolBox deadlines across all matters.

View a full list of LawToolBox's published rule sets.

Enabling the Smokeball-LawToolBox Integration

• To set up the LawToolBox integration, click on the Court Rules button on the main Smokeball screen or within the main matter screen:

• Once you click on the Court Rules button, a LawToolBox account will automatically get created. Only one person at the firm needs to click this button for an account to get created.
• You can also navigate to Smokeball Settings > Integrations and click on “CREATE ACCOUNT” under “LawToolBox”.

Any user in the firm can create a LawToolBox account by clicking “Create Account.” 

Please note:

• The integration will only work with new LawToolBox accounts. 
• After the user creates the account, they can configure their default LawToolBox settings.
• If the Default Deadline Type is set to “Calendar”:

• If the Default Deadline Type is set to “task”:

• The firm will select whether they want LawToolBox deadlines to be created as calendar events or tasks. This is a firm-wide setting for all matters.
  • If Calendar is selected:
    • The user can select which of the firm’s calendar(s) to receive the events.
    • If they always want it to go on the “Attorney Responsible” or the “Person Assisting” calendar, they can select those options. Otherwise, they can select specific calendars to receive the events.
  • If Task is selected: 
    • The user can select the default user(s) to receive the tasks. They can also select “Attorney Responsible,” “Person Assisting,” or specific people to do the tasks.
    • They can also set default task categories. “CourtRule” is a default task category that Smokeball provides, but the firm can change this or add additional task categories.
• Favorite Rule Sets: a “rule set” is a set of rules associated with a particular jurisdiction and potentially an area of law, such as “CA State – Superior Court – Civil (LA County).” While the firm has access to all of LawToolBox’s rule sets with a subscription, there will be a few rule sets they will often use. They can set up to five of those rule sets as favorites on this screen. This makes it easier to quickly access them when calculating deadlines from within a matter.
• View a full list of LawToolBox's published rule sets.

Creating a Set of Deadlines

• To create a new set of deadlines, navigate to a matter. You can access the “Court Rules” button from the main matter screen, the Events tab, or the Tasks tab:

• The “Matter Court Rule Sets” screen shows you all the deadlines calculated for this matter. Click “Add” to create a new set of deadlines:

• You can select a favorite rule set from the “Choose a Favorite” list, or select a different rule set in the “Rule Set” fields:

• Next, select a “Trigger,” which is the key date that is used to calculate your deadlines. For example, “Date of Trial,” or “Date Complaint Served.”
• Next, select the Trigger Date. Other fields may also appear, such as a field asking you to identify whether a document was served personally, by U.S. mail, electronically, etc. This information is used in the deadline calculation.
• Finally, confirm either the Calendars or Users to receive the deadlines:
  • Please note that if “Attorney Responsible” or “Person Assisting” is set as the deadline recipients in Smokeball Settings, and at least one of those roles is not configured on the matter, the user will either need to manually select the calendar/user in this screen while creating the deadlines or exit out of this screen and set those individuals in Matter Info.

• Click “Next” to calculate and review the deadlines:

• Review the deadlines, deselect any you do not want to be added, and click “Create X Deadlines.” A confirmation screen will appear:

• If Yes, then the new set of calculated deadlines appears in the “Matter Court Rule Sets” screen. When there are multiple sets of deadlines, click on the Trigger in the top section, and the deadlines associated with the trigger will appear in the bottom section:

Editing a Set of Deadlines

• To delete a Trigger and all associated deadlines, right-click on the Trigger in the “Matter Court Rule Sets” screen and select “Delete”:

• To delete a particular deadline, navigate to the Events or Tasks tab and delete the deadline from there.
• When editing a Trigger, double-click on the Trigger in the “Matter Court Rule Sets” screen. You can only edit the Trigger Date and/or Calendars/Users to receive deadlines:

• When you change the Trigger Date or the Calendars/Users to receive deadlines, click “Next”:

• You will see a fresh list of all deadlines associated with the Trigger, even if some of those deadlines were not selected when the deadlines were first calculated.
• As when creating a new set of deadlines, review the deadlines and select the deadlines you want to add, and then select “Update X Deadlines”:

• If you want to change the name, date, or other details of one deadline, double-click on the deadline to open it and make edits.
• You can double-click to open and edit the deadline from the Events or Tasks tab, or from the “Matter Court Rule Sets” screen:

• Note that when you open a Task or Event generated by LawToolBox, you see a red LawToolBox icon and the associated Trigger and Trigger Date.
• Changes to the deadline are reflected in the deadline list once you save the edits.

Track Time When Working with Deadlines

• The time a user spends creating and editing deadlines is recorded as Matter Administration time in the Activity section of the matter:

Viewing LawToolBox Deadlines across all Smokeball Matters

• Once you have created deadlines, you can view all your deadlines in one place without having to go into each matter.
• After a deadline has been calculated, you will see a “Court Rules” button on the main Smokeball screen:

• When you click on the “Court Rules” button, a “Court Rule Sets” screen appears. In this screen, you can view a list of all the sets of deadlines the firm has calculated on a per-matter basis.
• Triggers and deadlines can be edited from this screen.
• To create a new deadline, you must create the deadline through the matter.

Reviewing Updated Deadlines

• An authority may update the way a deadline is calculated under its rules. For example, a court may change the deadline to deliver courtesy copies from 7 days to 14 days. When this occurs, LawToolBox calculates the updated deadlines, and Smokeball gives the user a way to review the deadline updates and accept or reject the deadline update.
• When there is an update for the firm to review, the firm will receive a notice via a Court Rules Communicate channel, and a prompt to review and accept the changes:

• When the user opens the screen to review the deadline updates, the screen lists:
  •  The deadlines that have been updated
  • The rule-set the deadline is associated with
  • The trigger date
  • The affected matters
  • The old deadline date and the new deadline date
• A blue toggle next to a deadline indicates that the deadline update will be accepted.
• A red toggle next to a deadline indicates that the deadline update will be rejected.
• To Decide Later on the deadline update, uncheck the box next to the matter.