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Switching legal practice management software involves migrating your matters, contacts, documents, and financial data to a new platform. Smokeball includes migration for UK law firms as standard, at no extra cost, with a dedicated migration specialist, a trial migration run on your real data, and a confirmed go-live only once you are satisfied.
The question we get asked most, at demos, at events, and in the emails that arrive after a firm has been thinking it over for a few weeks, is some version of the same thing.
What happens to all our data?
Itis a fair question. Changing legal practice management systems is not like changing email providers. Your matters, your clients, your documents represent years of work and a duty of care to the people you represent. Getting that wrong, or losing something in the process, is not an abstract risk. It is areal one.
So, we want to answer it properly. Not with a disclaimer buried in small print, and not with the kind of vague reassurance that leaves you no better informed than when you started. Here are the eight questions firms ask us most about migration. Answered honestly.
"The firms who dreaded migration most are the ones who tell us it was easier than expected. We have done this hundreds of times."
Smokeball UK migration team
1. What does Smokeball charge for data migration?
Nothing. Migration is included.
There is no hidden fee, no surprise invoice on the day, and no negotiation required. If you are moving to Smokeball, we handle the migration as part of getting you set up.
The one exception worth knowing about: in very rare cases, extracting data from an older or more unusual system may require a specialist third-party tool. If that applies to your firm, we will flag it in writing before anything starts. You make an informed decision, not discover a cost after the fact.
2. What data actually comes across when switching legal practice management software?
More than most firms expect. Here is what we migrate:
The items that cannot be migrated are mostly historical financial records. These rarely need to be actioned but are useful to have for reference. We recommend exporting these from your current system and storing them in a dedicated matter in Smokeball, where they remain accessible without cluttering your live work.
There is no upper limit on the volume of data we can migrate. The only specific limit is 50,000 files per individual matter.
3. How do you make sure it goes to plan?
Your dedicated data migration specialist is with you from the first call to your go-live date and beyond. This is not a handoff to a generic support team. It is one person who knows your data, your system and your timeline.
Before your go-live date, we run a trial migration. This is a full practice run on your actual data, in a test environment, so you can review everything and confirm you are satisfied before we proceed with the real thing.
You approve it. Then we go live. We do not go-live until you have approved the test migration.
- Kick-off call with your migration specialist: You confirm what is being migrated. Initial data collection is scheduled.
- Data review and housekeeping: We run your data through our migration toolsand send you a detailed review. Your team has one week to clean up duplicatesand inconsistencies.
- Trial migration: A full practice run on your actual data in atest environment. You review everything and provide feedback. We makeadjustments.
- Final data collection: Your specialist collects a final copy of yourdata. Any data entered your legacy system beyond this date will not be migratedto Smokeball.
- Reconciliation Day: Ourspecialist team will take you through your data and reconcile the financialdata now in Smokeball against your legacy system. Once approved, your firm can‘Go Live’ in Smokeball.
- Go live: Mattersand contacts are live from day one. Documents will load over the next one to fivedays, depending upon the number of files, with open matters prioritised. Yourspecialist stays in contact all week.
4. Is my data safe with Smokeball?
Your data is yours. That is not a tagline. It is how we operate.
We meet and exceed all UK regulatory requirements for data security and privacy. Your data is never used for any purpose other than running your firm on Smokeball. It is not sold, shared or analysed for commercial purposes.
If you ever want a full backup of your data and documents, at any point and for any reason, we provide that free of charge. You should never feel locked in, and your data should never feel like leverage.
5. What system are you currently on?
We have migrated firms from all of the major UK practice management systems, as well as a number of smaller and more niche ones. We have also migrated firms that were running on manual setups, where the challenge is less about technical extraction and more about structuring the data correctly for the first time. If you are unsure whether we can migrate from your current system, get in touch and we will confirm it before any commitment is made.
If your current system is a niche one, get in touch. We have yet to find one we cannot work with. Older or more niche systems may take longer, and in rare cases may require specialist extraction tools, but they are not a blocker.
6. Can I prepare my own data for migration?
Yes .Some firms prefer to do this, particularly if they know their data needs cleaning before it is migrated. Firms that invest time in housekeeping before migration tend to get a cleaner result on the other side.
We provide detailed guidance and ready-to-use templates to make the process straightforward. Your migration specialist will walk you through exactly what is required at the data review stage.
7. Is there a limit to how much data can be migrated?
No upper limit on total data volume. We have migrated large firms with decades of matters and hundreds of thousands of documents without issue.
The one specific limit: 50,000 files per individual matter. In practice, very few matters come close to this threshold, but it is worth knowing if you have any unusually document-heavy matters. We may be able to lift this limit in certain circumstances, please speak to us if this is a concern.
8. Once we are live, how do I access my data?
Everything that was migrated is in Smokeball from day one. The data is held on Amazon SWS servers in the cloud, based in the UK, so you can log into Smokeball and access your data immediately.
What firms who have made this move say about it
These are not our words. They are from firms who went through the same questions you are asking now.
"We successfully migrated our entire client base to Smokeball. The transition was smooth and ongoing use is highly effective."
Satbir Lally, Managing Partner
"I was very cautious after a very bad experience with another provider. After using Smokeball, I can say it is a very useful tool and helps my firm provide abetter professional service to all our clients."
Vania Marinello, Solicitor
"Smokeball have been amazing getting us moved from another management system. Extremely helpful and quick to respond. The support is second to none."
Abbie Price
Migration is the thing that stops most firms from switching to a system they know would work better for them. We understand why. A bad migration experience stays with a firm for years.
Our approach is built around the belief that you should never go live until you are satisfied. You see your data in a test environment, you approve it, then and only then do we proceed.
If you have a question that is not covered here, we are happy to answer it directly. Before any commitment, before any demo, before any conversation about whether Smokeball is the right fit.
Book a conversation with our team.
