Smokeball integrationSee where every matter and person is up to, on top of Smokeball
Smokeball runs your documents, automatic time capture, and matters. Hivelight adds the layer above — one live view of every matter, task, and workload across the firm — so owners and practice managers can see where things stand and act before deadlines slip.
Smokeball runs the work. Hivelight adds the view across it.
Smokeball is excellent at the doing — documents, automatic time capture, and the record of every matter. Seeing across all those matters at once is a different job: which are at risk, who's overloaded, what's about to slip. Most firms still stitch that together from memory, spreadsheets, and status meetings.
Hivelight is that firm-wide view — on top of Smokeball, built on the matters your team already runs there.
What you get on top of Smokeball
Your team keeps working in Smokeball. Owners and managers get the visibility and workload orchestration they've wanted — live, and built on the work your team already does.
See every matter at a glance
A live, colour-coded matter list, sorted by urgency, shows exactly where each matter is up to and what needs attention — so you stop chasing status updates and reading progress out of people's inboxes.
Know who's overloaded — and who isn't
See workload and capacity across the whole team in one place. Allocate the next piece of work to the person who can actually take it, and plan hiring and leave against real demand instead of gut feel.
Make your management time count
Manage by exception. Attention flows to the matters and milestones genuinely at risk, while on-track work runs itself — with a clear accountability trail of who's doing what.
How Hivelight works with Smokeball
Hivelight runs alongside Smokeball as the coordination layer on top — your team keeps capturing time and producing documents in Smokeball exactly as they do now.
Connect Hivelight to Smokeball
Hivelight sits on top of your Smokeball account as the layer above. No rip-and-replace; nothing changes about how your team works in Smokeball.
Deploy work with flexible workflows
Apply reusable checklists-in-stages to any matter at any time. Work is assigned by role and seniority, and re-routes automatically when the team changes, so nothing gets dropped.
See it all, and report by default
Track every matter against its deadlines on a live, colour-coded board. Manage by exception, and let the reporting write itself as the work gets done.
Already run Smokeball? Find Hivelight in the Smokeball marketplace.
Why it works when other tools get abandoned
Rigid add-on tools get dropped, and then the work goes undocumented. Hivelight is built to actually get used.
Nothing gets dropped when the team changes
Uncommon in legal: when someone leaves or is swapped off a matter, their tasks route automatically up the chain to the next appropriate person — not into a void.
Workflows people will actually maintain
A Hivelight workflow is a clear checklist broken into stages, not the brittle, branching builders you find in older tools. Easy to build, easy to keep current — update the template and the change flows into the un-started parts of live matters.
When a date moves, the plan moves
Shift a court date, filing deadline, or settlement date and cascade the change through every downstream milestone and task in one action — so the plan stays true to the matter.
“The ability to see in real-time what everyone is working on and reassign tasks when needed has made it much easier to manage our workload and keep everything on track.”
Frequently asked questions
Is Hivelight a replacement for Smokeball?
No — the opposite. Hivelight runs on top of Smokeball. Smokeball stays your practice management system for documents, time, and matters; Hivelight adds the firm-wide visibility, workload, and workflow layer above it.
Do we have to change how we work in Smokeball?
No. Your team keeps producing documents and capturing time in Smokeball. Hivelight is mainly for the people coordinating and reporting on the work — partners, principals, and practice managers.
Does Hivelight do billing or trust accounting?
No, by design. Billing, trust accounting, and the document and matter record stay in Smokeball. Hivelight is deliberately the layer for managing, allocating, and reporting on the work itself.
What does Hivelight add to Smokeball?
A live, firm-wide view of where every matter is up to; team workload and capacity so you can allocate work well; and reporting on progress and on-time performance — built on the matters your team already runs in Smokeball.
See Hivelight on top of your Smokeball.
Start free and get the framework owners and managers run on — the visibility and workload orchestration you've wanted, alongside the Smokeball you already use. Need bespoke reporting or automation? Our team can build it for you.
Start freePrefer to see it first? Request a demo.