CARET Legal vs Smokeball: how they compare in 2026
CARET Legal and Smokeball both sell practice management to small and midsize law firms, with billing, trust accounting and AI that works inside a firm's matters. Smokeball sits in the top two bands on eleven of fifteen axes and CARET Legal on seven of fifteen, identical on seven. The sharpest difference is what happens to client data inside the AI. CARET's terms license a firm's AI inputs and outputs to CARET to train, tune and evaluate its models, and no opt out was located. Smokeball's security page says it gives no customer data to third parties for model training, and its own use is not addressed. It also limits Archie to users already permitted on a matter, and states ISO 27001:2022 certification. CARET's counterweight is disclosure about price and model. It publishes plans at $79, $99 and $119 per user a month, and names Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service behind Quick Summary. Both publish liability terms with an intellectual property indemnity, and both commit to notice before any compelled disclosure.
At a glance
All 15 axes, side by side
The same grid applied to every vendor in the index, graded from public sources. Hover a grade to see what the letter means on that axis.
AI Centrality
How much of the product is actually AI. Whether the machine learning is the mechanism the buyer is paying for or a feature layered onto conventional software, and whether the vendor is specific about which is which.
The models are the engine of a core capability layered on a product that would still function without them. CARET AI finds unbilled time in work already logged, flags what needs attention and calculates deadlines from matter data, and Quick Summary condenses documents; remove them and case management, native email, workflows, document management, billing, trust accounting and payments remain, which is the product the company has sold for forty years. The terms treat AI Services as a defined subset of the subscription, carve them out of the service-level commitment and warranty, and price AI summaries on the second tier upward. Home page, features page, pricing page and terms read 6 September 2026.
The models are the engine of a core capability layered on a product that would still function without them. Archie drafts, reviews and answers inside a matter, Archie Apps run task-specific analyses and Playbooks review documents against rules, but the product's centre remains Word document automation from a form library, AutoTime, matter management, billing and trust accounting; Archie is sold as an add-on to the Grow and Prosper+ tiers, and the terms treat Smokeball AI and Archie as features whose processing aligns with the product's primary uses. Home page, Archie pages, terms and third-party tier description read 6 September 2026.
Citation Accuracy and Hallucination Disclosure
Whether the vendor publishes measured accuracy on citations and assertions, grounds output to primary sources, and says plainly what its system does when it does not know. Legal has a documented public record of fabricated citations reaching filed briefs, so an untested claim of accuracy is not evidence.
Accuracy is disclaimed without measurement and the primary-authority limbs do not apply. Terms section 20.3 states that AI outputs may be inaccurate, that CARET makes no representation as to their accuracy or reliability, and that every output must be independently reviewed before use; the 2023 launch release claims Quick Summary accelerates decisions without sacrificing accuracy, with no test set, figure or evaluation published. The features summarise documents and surface matter data rather than citing law, so the citation limbs are not held against the product; what the band asks of a summariser, a measure of how often summaries are wrong, is not published. Terms, launch release and blog posts read 6 September 2026.
Accuracy is disclaimed without measurement. Terms section 24 states that answers produced by Smokeball AI or Archie may include inaccuracies and may not reflect recent changes in the law, that notifications may not be accurate, and that Smokeball makes no warranty as to results; the LawY integration answers legal questions from a jurisdiction-aware knowledge base with an option to have a lawyer verify the answer, which is a review step rather than a published accuracy figure. No test set, benchmark or evaluation is published for Archie, Archie Apps or Playbooks. Terms and Archie pages read 6 September 2026.
Autonomy and Oversight Model
What the system decides on its own, what a lawyer must approve, and whether the vendor documents where the review point sits. A tool that drafts under review and a tool that files without one are different products and different risks.
A written commitment that the models work alongside a reviewing person, short of the full control structure. Terms section 20.3 provides that outputs are for informational and workflow-assistance purposes, must be subject to independent review and validation before use, and must not be relied on without appropriate human review by qualified personnel, and requires the client to report inaccurate or harmful results to CARET; CARET AI presents unbilled time, attention items and deadlines for a person to act on. Nothing states a threshold at which the system acts alone, what executes without approval, or a route back after a wrong summary or deadline beyond the client's own correction, and section 23 places responsibility for missed deadlines and sanctions on the client. Terms and home page read 6 September 2026.
A written commitment that the models work under a supervising lawyer, with real review surfaces, short of the full control structure. Terms section 24 requires that Smokeball AI and Archie be used only by or under the supervision of qualified legal practitioners and that the firm validate every notification and form with its own judgement; Playbooks review each document against rules the firm defines and flag issues for a person to accept; LawY answers can be sent to a lawyer for verification; Archie drafts in Outlook and Word are adjusted before sending. What is not published is a threshold at which the system acts alone, including AutoTime's passive time capture, or a stated route back after a wrong answer beyond the firm's own review. Terms and Archie pages read 6 September 2026.
Operational and Outcome Evidence
Named, dated evidence that the product works in production at real firms or legal departments. Case studies with figures and identified customers count. Unattributed testimonials and launch announcements do not.
Scale claims and an illustrative estimate stand in for named deployments on the surfaces read. The home page states more than 6,500 firms and forty years in the market, and the pricing page claims small and mid-sized firms can capture an extra twenty thousand dollars of billable work per timekeeper, footnoted as an informational estimate that may vary significantly. No named customer with a figure was located; the customer stories page exists in the navigation and was not opened, and is the rebuttal route. Home page and pricing page read 6 September 2026.
Scale claims stand in for named deployments on the surfaces read. The vendor states more than five thousand firms; a case studies page and a testimonial wall exist in the navigation and were not opened, and are the rebuttal route. Home page and navigation read 6 September 2026.
Privilege and Confidentiality Posture
How client confidences are handled: attorney client privilege and work product treatment, segregation of one client matter from another, whether client data trains any model, and what the vendor commits to in writing rather than in marketing.
Confidentiality is addressed in the agreement and the training position is adverse, which is the finding. Terms section 9 treats client data as confidential with a protective-order notice clause on legal process, section 7 deletes client data thirty days after the term, and the 2023 and 2025 blog posts state that Quick Summary runs in a closed environment so client data is not exposed outside the firm's instance. Against that, section 20.4 licenses the client's AI inputs and outputs to CARET to train, tune and evaluate models and features, with learnings retained beyond the term as anonymised aggregated data, and section 21.5 permits the same for beta data; the agreement governs over the marketing. No treatment of privilege or work product and no description of matter-level segregation was located. Terms and blog posts read 6 September 2026.
Substantive published commitments on confidentiality, segregation and third-party use, short of a contractual training term and of privilege named as such. Segregation at matter level, the strongest in the pull: the security page states firm-level logical isolation and that only users already permitted on a matter can use Archie for that matter, and the product pages state that Archie works only within the matter the user is in, never cross-references others, and is visible only to staff assigned to it. Third-party providers: the security page states that Smokeball does not provide customer data to third parties for AI model training, and the product pages that Archie runs under zero-data-retention agreements. Confidentiality and legal process: terms sections 18 and 22 treat client data as confidential with prompt prior notice of compelled disclosure. Retention: deletion thirty days after termination. Not in the agreement: any training term, and Smokeball's own use of data for its models is not addressed on any surface read; privilege and work product are not named. Terms, security page and Archie pages read 6 September 2026.
UPL and Professional Responsibility Posture
Whether the vendor is clear that it supplies a tool rather than legal advice, who its audience is, and how it addresses unauthorized practice of law, competence and supervision duties, and jurisdiction limits. ABA Formal Opinion 512 is the reference point. Where the advice line is not the duty a product raises, the axis is read through the nearest professional duty it does raise: judicial conduct rules and the reviewing duty for products sold only to courts, and the duty to bill for time actually spent for products that draft time entries.
A real position on advice versus tooling, framed for a professional user, short of a competence dimension and with a jurisdiction statement that shifts the burden. Terms section 20.3 states that AI outputs do not constitute legal, accounting, tax or professional advice, require human review by qualified personnel, and that the client is responsible for legally compliant AI disclosures to its own clients; section 23 states that CARET does not warrant compliance with court rules or deadlines in any jurisdiction and that the client must determine whether its use complies with the rules of every jurisdiction it is subject to, and disclaims liability for missed deadlines, sanctions and malpractice claims. The buyer is a law firm. No bar guidance is named. Terms read 6 September 2026.
The vendor states what its AI is and is not, who should use it, and how it sits with a lawyer's supervision duties, with jurisdiction limits where they apply. Terms section 24 states that Smokeball is not a law firm, that Smokeball AI and Archie are not a substitute for legal or professional skill, judgement and experience and should only be used by or under the supervision of qualified legal practitioners, that notifications and generated forms must be validated with the lawyer's own professional judgement, and that content may not reflect current law. Jurisdiction is addressed feature by feature: Archie Apps are stated as currently available in Australia, LawY answers are jurisdiction-aware, and the product runs on separate national sites. The buyer is a law firm. No bar guidance is named, which would have been additional rather than required. Terms and Archie pages read 6 September 2026.
AI Governance and Bias Disclosure
Published governance over model behavior: who owns it inside the vendor, what is tested before release, and what is disclosed about disparate output across matter types, parties, or populations.
Responsible-use statements without a mechanism, testing regime or accountable owner. The 2025 blog post states that CARET regularly reviews how it uses or plans to use AI and the tools that support it, and the terms bar using AI services to generate unlawful, harmful or discriminatory content; no governance framework, ISO 42001 or equivalent, pre-release testing description or statement about uneven output is published on the surfaces read. Blog posts, terms and security navigation read 6 September 2026.
Responsible-use statements aligned to a security standard, without a governance framework, testing regime or accountable owner for the AI itself. The security page states that Smokeball AI capabilities are designed and operated to protect confidentiality, integrity and availability in alignment with ISO 27001 controls, and the product pages speak of responsible and secure AI; no responsible AI framework, ISO 42001 or equivalent, pre-release testing description or statement about uneven output is published on the surfaces read. Security page and Archie pages read 6 September 2026.
AI Safety and Data Stewardship
Retention, deletion, access control, and what happens to prompts and documents after they are processed. Whether the vendor states its subprocessors and its incident practice, or leaves the buyer to assume.
Some of the ground is covered in the agreement and the rest sits on surfaces not read. Retention and deletion: terms section 7 permanently deletes client data from all CARET and affiliate storage thirty days after the term ends. Sub-processors: section 37 permits subcontracting without consent and section 34 incorporates a data processing addendum by reference, which was not opened; Azure OpenAI is named as the AI provider on the blog. Access control and incident practice: the data security page exists in the navigation and was not opened. Section 27 permits disclosure or transfer of client data in a merger or sale. Terms and blog posts read 6 September 2026; the security page and DPA are the rebuttal route.
Substantive published policy covering most of the ground. Retention and deletion: terms sections 14 and 15 give thirty days of access for retrieval after termination and permit deletion thereafter, and the product pages state zero data retention at the AI providers. Access control: the security page states multi-factor authentication, role-based access on least-privilege principles, periodic privilege reviews and automated monitoring and alerts for abnormal access, in alignment with ISO 27001 Annex A. Sub-processors: the terms address data flows to interfacing third parties a firm enables, but no sub-processor list and no named AI provider was located. Incident practice: monitoring and alerting are stated; a notification commitment was not located. Terms and security page read 6 September 2026.
AI Liability and Recourse
What the vendor stands behind contractually when its output is wrong. Indemnities, caps, carve outs, insurance, and whether any of it is published or only reachable through a negotiated agreement.
What the vendor stands behind is published and specific, including that on wrong output it stands behind nothing, which a buyer can read before signing. Terms section 25 gives a CARET defence and indemnity for third-party claims that the subscription service infringes intellectual property, with exclusions and the procure, modify or terminate remedies; section 24 caps CARET's aggregate liability at subscription fees paid for the service in the six months preceding the claim and excludes indirect and consequential loss; section 23 warrants only the service-level commitment, excluding AI services, with a service credit as sole remedy, disclaims all warranties on AI outputs and states that CARET is not liable for missed deadlines, late filings, sanctions, adverse rulings or malpractice claims arising from reliance on the service; section 30 bars actions after two years. The client indemnifies CARET for AI inputs. No insurance is stated. Terms of service of 18 August 2026 read in full 6 September 2026.
What the vendor stands behind is published and specific, including that on wrong output it stands behind nothing, which a buyer can read before signing. Terms section 26B gives a Smokeball defence and indemnity for third-party claims that the subscription infringes United States intellectual property rights, with exclusions and the procure, modify or terminate-and-refund remedies; section 25 caps each party's aggregate liability at the subscription fees paid in the preceding year and excludes consequential loss, carving out the indemnities and migration; section 23B warrants conformity with the product description and commercially reasonable malware protection; sections 23D and 24 disclaim any warranty as to results and any accuracy of AI answers, forms or notifications, with the firm indemnifying Smokeball for client data. No insurance is stated. Terms of service of 9 July 2026 read in full 6 September 2026.
Practice Systems Integration Depth
How deeply the product reaches into the systems legal work already lives in: document management such as iManage and NetDocuments, Word and Outlook, contract lifecycle management, matter management, e-billing, and court filing systems.
Integrations are referred to without documentation an implementer could use on the surfaces read. The terms contemplate APIs and third-party applications subject to rate limits and a per-seat rule, disclaim function when combined with third-party software including Microsoft products, and the platform includes native email and calendaring; an integrations page exists in the navigation and was not opened, and no integration is described with what moves and in which direction. Terms and navigation read 6 September 2026; the integrations page is the rebuttal route.
Real integrations with depth described for some. Archie is embedded in the Word sidebar and in Outlook, where it summarises email threads and drafts responses from matter context with tone and length adjustable before sending; the LawY integration is described as an in-product question with an optional lawyer verification; InfoTrack's conveyancing integration is described as reducing manual data entry into Smokeball in Australia. A marketplace of integrations exists and was not opened, and QuickBooks Online and LawToolBox are described by a third party rather than credited. Archie pages, Smokeball AI page and terms read 6 September 2026.
Deployment Model and Data Residency
Where the software runs and where the data sits. Multi tenant cloud, single tenant, private deployment, on premises, and whether region of residence is a published option or an enterprise conversation.
Cloud delivery is stated and neither tenancy nor region is addressed with substance. The terms define a SaaS-based subscription service, and the blog posts state that Quick Summary runs in a closed environment so that client data is not exposed outside a firm's instance of CARET Legal, which implies per-firm separation without saying whether infrastructure is shared or where it sits. No region, hosting provider or residency option is stated on the surfaces read; the data security page was not opened and is the rebuttal route. Terms and blog posts read 6 September 2026.
The tenancy model is stated and residency is partial. The security page states that each firm's data is logically isolated, which is a stated multi-tenant model; the product is delivered as a Windows desktop application with cloud services under minimum system requirements the terms reference; separate Australian, United Kingdom and United States businesses and sites exist, with the Australian and UK pages stating alignment with the Australian Privacy Act and the UK GDPR respectively. No hosting provider, region or residency election is stated on the surfaces read. Security page, terms and regional Archie pages read 6 September 2026.
Security Certifications and Trust Center
Independent attestation a buyer can pull without a sales call: SOC 2, ISO 27001, penetration test summaries, a trust center with current reports and named scope rather than a badge image.
No certification with scope was located on the surfaces read. The terms carry no security warranty beyond confidentiality obligations, a status page exists, and a data security page sits in the navigation and was not opened; no SOC 2, ISO 27001, auditor or report route appears in the material read. This grade is rebuttable on the security page. Terms and navigation read 6 September 2026.
Certification is real and stated, short of a report reachable without asking. The security page and product pages state that Smokeball is certified to ISO 27001:2022 and independently penetration-tested every year, with encryption at every stage, multi-factor authentication and role-based access. No certificate number, certifying body, coverage period or route to the certificate or a SOC 2 report is published, and no trust centre was located on the surfaces read. Security page and Archie pages read 6 September 2026.
Model Supply Chain Disclosure
Which models sit underneath, whose they are, where they run, and whether the vendor commits to telling customers when that changes. A legal buyer inherits every dependency it cannot see.
The supply chain is partly disclosed. The 2023 launch release and the 2025 blog post state that Quick Summary is powered by Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service in a closed environment, which names the provider and the hosting arrangement; the terms acknowledge third-party and publicly available models and state that CARET's providers retain rights in the underlying models. What is not published is the model itself, the providers behind the 2026 CARET AI features, where inference runs, or a change-notification commitment. Launch release, blog post and terms read 6 September 2026.
The vendor describes the terms on which it uses AI providers without identifying them. The product pages state that Archie runs under enterprise-grade zero-data-retention agreements and that data is never shared with third parties for training or AI modelling, and the security page states no provision of customer data to third parties for model training; the LawY integration is named as the source of legal answers. No model, provider, inference location or change-notification commitment is named on the surfaces read. Archie pages and security page read 6 September 2026.
Commercial Transparency
Whether a buyer can learn what this costs without entering a sales process: published rates, the unit being charged, what sits behind an enterprise tier, and what implementation adds.
A figure, a unit and a term are published. The pricing page lists Enterprise at 79, Enterprise Plus at 99 and Enterprise Insights at 119 dollars per user per month billed annually, plus one-time implementation fees, with the features of each tier itemised and AI-generated document summaries starting on Enterprise Plus; premium support is an add-on with a 25-user minimum. The terms add that AI services may carry additional fees and token or credit limits set in the order, that fees may rise annually or on thirty days' notice, and that termination before term end incurs the remaining balance. Pricing page and terms read 6 September 2026.
The unit and structure are stated without a first-party figure on the surfaces read. The terms price per user for a fixed subscription term with tiers named on the pricing page, a default tier of Prosper+, Archie as a paid add-on, Flex Users at a higher month-to-month rate, upgrades permitted mid-term and downgrades only at renewal, and sixty days' notice of renewal pricing; a pricing page exists at smokeball.com/pricing and was not opened on 6 September 2026. A third-party review reports the page shows a from-price and that per-user figures elsewhere conflict with it; neither is credited. A figure on the pricing page would lift this to A. Terms read 6 September 2026.
Firm and Practice Coverage
Who the product is actually built for. AmLaw, midlaw, small firm and solo, in house departments, government and courts, and which practice areas are supported rather than merely claimed.
Segment and practice coverage are described with substance and some limits are stated. The vendor publishes solution pages for twelve practice areas including litigation, personal injury, estate planning, intellectual property, criminal, immigration, family, real estate, employment, insurance defence and workers' compensation, role pages for administrators, partners, bookkeepers and IT, and firm-size pages for one to thirty and thirty-plus employees; the terms state the service is US-governed and subject to export control, and AI features are limited to the second tier and above. No practice area is named as unsupported. Navigation, pricing page and terms read 6 September 2026.
Segment, practice and jurisdiction coverage are described with substance and some limits are stated by the vendor. Solution pages cover eight practice areas with a full list, three firm sizes and eight roles, and the product is sold through separate United States, Australian and United Kingdom businesses. Limits stated: Archie Apps are currently available in Australia only, AutoTime with Smokeball AI is described as releasing soon, and the terms state that content may not reflect current law. Navigation, Archie pages and terms read 6 September 2026.
The 12 legal signals, side by side
Recorded rather than graded. These are the questions a practitioner has to answer before a tool touches a client matter, and the answers are taken from public material only.
Client Data in Training
Can material a lawyer puts into this product be used to train a model?
The published agreement expressly reserves a right to train on customer content and no opt-out was located. Terms of service section 20.4, last updated 18 August 2026, has the client grant CARET a license to use and process AI inputs and AI outputs during the term to provide, maintain, support and improve the AI services, to train, tune and evaluate models and features, and for internal reporting and analytics; learnings retained beyond the term are held as aggregated data, defined in section 7 as anonymized and not capable of re-identification.
Section 21.5 separately permits beta data to be used to train and improve AI systems. This sits against the vendor's blog statements of 2023 and 2025 that Quick Summary runs in a closed environment and client data is not exposed outside the firm's instance; the agreement governs. Surfaces checked 6 September 2026.
Public material states that customer content is not used for training, and no matching term was located in the published agreement. The security page states that Smokeball does not provide customer data to third parties for AI model training or third-party AI modeling, and the product pages that Archie runs under zero-data-retention agreements and that data is never shared with third parties for viewing, training or AI modeling.
Two qualifiers travel with it: every statement is about third parties, and Smokeball's own use of customer data for its models is not addressed on any surface read. The terms of service of 9 July 2026 were read in full: section 18 states that Smokeball AI and Archie processing aligns with the product's primary uses and the privacy policy, and no clause names training. Surfaces checked 6 September 2026.
Prompt and Output Retention
How long does the product keep what a lawyer typed, and can that be set to zero?
A specific period is published and the customer cannot change it. Terms section 7 provides that client data, which section 7 defines to include AI inputs, is permanently deleted from all CARET and affiliate servers and cloud instances thirty days after the term of the order expires; section 20.4 licenses AI inputs and outputs to CARET for the term and retains only anonymized learnings beyond it. Nothing states a shorter or configurable window during the term. Surfaces checked 6 September 2026.
A specific period is published for the platform and the customer cannot change it. Terms section 14 permits deletion of the account and data thirty days after termination, and section 15 gives thirty days of access for retrieval with a defined data backup on request; the product pages state that Archie runs under zero-data-retention agreements with its AI providers, which addresses retention at the model provider rather than in the platform.
Nothing states a shorter or configurable window for Archie prompts and outputs inside Smokeball during the term. Surfaces checked 6 September 2026.
Ethical Walls and Matter Segregation
Does retrieval respect the firm’s ethical walls, or can the model read across them?
Segregation is claimed at the level of a firm's instance without documentation. The vendor's blog states that AI runs in a closed environment so that client data is not exposed outside a firm's instance, and the pricing page lists custom permissions on the second tier and above; nothing describes how matters are walled within a firm or how the AI features respect those permissions, and the security page and documentation were not opened. Surfaces checked 6 September 2026.
The product maintains its own permission model and documents it at matter level. The security page states firm-level logical isolation and that only users already permitted on a matter can use Archie for that matter, consistent with ISO 27001 and SOC 2 access-control expectations; the product pages state that Archie works only within the matter the user is in, never cross-references other matters, and is visible only to staff assigned to it.
This is the most specific matter-segregation statement in the pull for a practice management product. Surfaces checked 6 September 2026.
Third Party Request and Subpoena Notice
If someone subpoenas the vendor for a firm’s data, does the firm hear about it first?
The published agreement commits to notice. Terms section 9.4 provides that where the receiving party must disclose confidential information to comply with a judicial or administrative proceeding, it will, to the extent legally permitted, give the disclosing party prompt written notice so that it may seek a protective order or other remedy at its own expense, and that disclosure after a failed application is not a breach.
Client data is confidential information under section 9. No transparency report is published. Surfaces checked 6 September 2026.
The published agreement commits to notice twice. Terms section 22B requires the receiving party, to the extent permitted by law, to notify the disclosing party promptly and before any compelled disclosure so it can seek a protective order, to assist in opposing the disclosure, and then to disclose only what is legally required with efforts to obtain confidential treatment; section 18 separately provides that Smokeball will give notice of legal process for client data, to the extent allowed by law, as soon as reasonably possible. No transparency report is published. Surfaces checked 6 September 2026.
Primary Law Corpus Provenance
Where does the law in this product come from, and does the vendor have the right to use it?
No located public material identifies a legal corpus behind the AI features, and the product is not built on one: Quick Summary condenses the firm's own documents and CARET AI works from the matters, time, billing and deadlines already in the platform, citing no law. Home page, features page and blog checked 6 September 2026.
Coverage is described by jurisdiction without identifying the underlying corpus. The LawY integration answers legal questions with guidance described as jurisdiction-aware and tailored to matter type, and Smokeball's own form library is stated at more than twenty thousand forms across matter types; nothing states what primary sources sit behind LawY's answers, under what license, or how often they are refreshed, and the terms warn that content may not reflect recent changes in the law. Archie pages and terms read 6 September 2026.
Good Law Verification
Does the product tell you when the authority it just cited has been overruled?
No located public material addresses whether authority is checked for subsequent history, and the product does not retrieve or cite primary law; its AI summarizes documents and surfaces practice data. Recorded as the honest value for a product without a citator function. Surfaces checked 6 September 2026.
No located public material addresses whether authorities in LawY's answers are checked for subsequent history. The vendor's control on citation risk is the option to have a lawyer verify an answer, which is a review step rather than a citator or treatment signal. Archie pages checked 6 September 2026.
Refusal and Uncertainty Behavior
What does the product do when the answer is not in the corpus?
No located public material describes what the AI features do when they cannot ground a summary or a deadline calculation. The terms require the client to review every output and to report inaccurate or harmful results, which is a reporting duty rather than an abstention path, and no confidence signal is described. Terms and product pages checked 6 September 2026.
No located public material describes what Archie or the LawY integration does when it cannot ground an answer. Playbooks flag issues against firm-defined rules and the lawyer-verification option acts on an answer already given; neither is an abstention path, and no confidence signal is described. Archie pages and terms checked 6 September 2026.
Fabricated Citation Record
Does a public court record exist addressing fabricated or hallucinated legal citations in output from this product?
No court order, opinion or disciplinary record naming CARET Legal, Zola Suite, Quick Summary or CARET AI was located as of 6 September 2026. The AI Hallucination Cases database maintained by Damien Charlotin was searched on the product and legacy names together with a general search for court findings; results returned sanctions involving general-purpose chatbots and industry commentary, none of which names this product.
This is a statement about the public record, not a finding about the product; a practice management tool whose AI summarizes documents and surfaces practice data carries a remote exposure on this signal.
No court order, opinion or disciplinary record naming Smokeball, Archie or Smokeball AI was located as of 6 September 2026. The AI Hallucination Cases database maintained by Damien Charlotin was searched on the company and product names together with a general search for court findings; results returned sanctions involving general-purpose chatbots and commentary, none of which names this product. This is a statement about the public record, not a finding about the product.
Bar Guidance Alignment
Has the vendor engaged in public with the ethics opinions its buyers are bound by?
No located public material names an ethics opinion, bar rule or professional responsibility framework. The terms address the advice line, human review by qualified personnel and the client's duty to comply with court rules and to disclose AI use to its own clients, but no guidance from any jurisdiction is named. Terms, home page and blog checked 6 September 2026.
Professional obligations are referenced generically without naming an ethics opinion, bar rule or framework. Terms section 24 requires that Smokeball AI and Archie be used only by or under the supervision of qualified legal practitioners and that outputs be validated with professional skill, judgment and experience, and the vendor offers bar association discounts; no guidance from any bar or regulator on AI use is named. Terms and Archie pages checked 6 September 2026.
Billing and Fee Posture
Does the vendor address what happens to the bill when the work takes an hour instead of six?
The buyer is a law firm and the product issues the client's invoice, so it sits inside the fee relationship; what it publishes on AI and the bill is a capture and savings claim. CARET AI is described as finding billable time in work already happening, and the pricing page claims an extra twenty thousand dollars of billable work per timekeeper as an illustrative estimate; nothing addresses how AI-assisted work is recorded or disclosed on the client's bill when the work takes less time, although the terms do require the client to make legally compliant AI disclosures to its own clients. Home page, pricing page and terms checked 6 September 2026.
The buyer is a law firm and the product issues the client's invoice, so it sits inside the fee relationship; what it publishes on AI and the bill is time capture and efficiency. AutoTime records time passively and is described as gaining Smokeball AI, Archie is marketed as delivering work faster, and the terms price by user rather than by usage; nothing addresses how AI-assisted work is recorded or disclosed on the client's bill when the work takes less time. Home page, AutoTime and Archie pages and terms checked 6 September 2026.
Outside Counsel Guideline Readiness
Can a firm get this vendor through a client’s AI clause without a bespoke negotiation?
No sub-processor list or client-facing AI disclosure material was located. The blog names Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service as the provider behind Quick Summary, which is one provider for one feature and not a list; the terms incorporate a data processing addendum at getcaret.com by reference, permit subcontracting without consent, and place the duty to disclose AI use to end clients on the firm. The DPA and security page were not opened on 6 September 2026 and are the rebuttal route.
No sub-processor list or model provider list was located. The product pages describe zero-data-retention agreements with unnamed AI providers and the security page states no third-party model training, which is a forwardable statement of terms but not a list of who sees client content; the terms address interfacing third parties a firm enables without naming processors. The privacy policy was not opened and is the rebuttal route. Surfaces checked 6 September 2026.
Court Disclosure Support
If a judge’s standing order requires an AI disclosure, can the product produce one?
No located public material addresses court disclosure or verification certification of AI-assisted work. The terms require human review of every output and disclaim liability for missed deadlines and sanctions, and the product keeps matter and billing records, but nothing describes a per-document record of the model used, sources and human verification that could be exported for a court. Terms and product pages checked 6 September 2026.
No located public material addresses court disclosure or verification certification of AI-assisted work. Archie's outputs and Smokeball AI summaries are described as visible only to firm staff, and the lawyer-verification option on LawY answers produces a checked answer, but nothing states that a per-document record of the model used, sources and human verification can be exported for a court. Archie pages and terms checked 6 September 2026.
The questions both sides leave open
Derived from the records above rather than written, so it cannot favor either vendor. Take these into both conversations and ask each side the same question.
- Good Law Verification
- Refusal and Uncertainty Behavior
- Outside Counsel Guideline Readiness
- Court Disclosure Support
Which one fits
Choose CARET Legal if
- You want to price the platform before a sales call. CARET publishes plans at $79, $99 and $119 per user a month billed annually, with AI document summaries from the $99 tier, and its terms state that AI services may carry additional fees and token limits set in the order.
- You need to name the AI provider to a client. CARET states that Quick Summary runs on Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service in a closed environment, and its terms acknowledge third party models and say its providers keep their rights in them.
- You want the advice line and legal process terms in the contract. CARET's terms state that AI outputs are not legal, tax or professional advice and need review by qualified personnel, and commit to prompt written notice before a compelled disclosure so the firm can seek a protective order.
Choose Smokeball if
- You need AI walled by matter. Smokeball states that only users already permitted on a matter can use Archie for it, that Archie never cross references other matters, and that each firm's data is logically isolated from every other firm's.
- You draft in Word and Outlook from a form library. Smokeball builds on Word document automation with more than twenty thousand forms, and Archie sits in the Word sidebar and in Outlook, summarizing threads and drafting replies from matter context before a person sends them.
- Your security review wants a certification and a supervision rule. Smokeball states ISO 27001:2022 certification and annual penetration testing, and its terms state that it is not a law firm and that Archie should be used only by or under the supervision of qualified legal practitioners.
In summary
CARET Legal
CARET Legal, from Abacus Data Systems, Inc. of San Diego, which does business as CARET and was formerly AbacusNext, is a cloud practice management platform for small and midsize law firms with case management, native email and calendaring, workflows, document management, intake, a client portal, LEDES capable billing, payments and full legal and trust accounting. Its AI, CARET AI and Quick Summary, finds unbilled time, calculates deadlines and summarizes documents. The AI Legal Index grades it in the top two bands on seven of fifteen capability axes, with A grades on liability and pricing, from $79 per user a month. It names Azure OpenAI behind Quick Summary. As of 6 September 2026 the index located no security certification and no accuracy measure.
Smokeball
Smokeball, from Smokeball Incorporated of Chicago with businesses in Australia and the United Kingdom, is a desktop and cloud practice management platform for solo, small and midsize law firms, built on Word document automation with more than twenty thousand forms, AutoTime passive time recording, matter and email management, intake, invoicing and trust accounting. Its AI assistant, Archie, drafts, reviews and answers questions inside the matter a user is working in, from Word and Outlook. The AI Legal Index grades it in the top two bands on eleven of fifteen capability axes, with A grades on professional responsibility and liability. It states ISO 27001:2022 certification and matter level limits on AI access. As of 6 September 2026 the index located no named model provider and no price figure.
Questions buyers ask
CARET Legal vs Smokeball: which is better for a small law firm?
On published evidence Smokeball sits in the top two bands on eleven of fifteen AI Legal Index capability axes and CARET Legal on seven of fifteen, mostly because Smokeball publishes more on data handling, matter level access to its AI and security. CARET publishes its prices and names its AI provider. Firms that want to price a platform before a demo have more to read from CARET.
Does CARET Legal train AI on client data?
Its terms allow it. Section 20.4 of CARET's terms of service, dated 18 August 2026, licenses a firm's AI inputs and outputs to CARET to train, tune and evaluate its models and features, and keeps learnings beyond the term only as anonymized aggregated data. No opt out was located. Smokeball's security page says it gives no customer data to third parties for model training. Graded by AI Legal Index against 15 capability axes and 12 legal signals, including privilege handling and citation accuracy, from each vendor's own published materials, verified September 26, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How does Smokeball keep Archie inside one matter?
Smokeball's security page states that each firm's data is logically isolated and that only users already permitted on a matter can use Archie for that matter. Its product pages add that Archie works only within the matter a user is in, never cross references other matters, and is visible only to assigned staff. CARET claims separation at the level of a firm without describing matter walls. Graded by AI Legal Index against 15 capability axes and 12 legal signals, including privilege handling and citation accuracy, from each vendor's own published materials, verified September 26, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How much do CARET Legal and Smokeball cost?
CARET publishes Enterprise at $79, Enterprise Plus at $99 and Enterprise Insights at $119 per user a month billed annually, plus implementation fees it does not quantify, with AI summaries from Enterprise Plus. Smokeball prices per user for a fixed term with named tiers and Archie as a paid add on; its pricing page was not read and no figure is stated here. Graded by AI Legal Index against 15 capability axes and 12 legal signals, including privilege handling and citation accuracy, from each vendor's own published materials, verified September 26, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
What do CARET Legal and Smokeball both leave unpublished?
How accurate their AI is and how it is governed. Both disclaim the accuracy of AI output without publishing a figure or test set, and neither describes a governance framework, testing before release or an accountable owner. Neither names bar guidance on AI. Neither says how AI assisted work is recorded on a client's bill, although both capture billable time with AI. Graded by AI Legal Index against 15 capability axes and 12 legal signals, including privilege handling and citation accuracy, from each vendor's own published materials, verified September 26, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Three readings to weigh. CARET's license to train on AI inputs and outputs is a published term a firm can read before signing, and learnings kept after the term are anonymized and aggregated. Smokeball's statements about training cover third parties only, and its own use of customer data for models is not addressed. Smokeball's pricing page and CARET's security page and data processing addendum were not opened, and either could lift a grade. CARET Legal and Smokeball were both verified on 6 September 2026. Neither vendor reviewed this page.
Neither vendor paid for inclusion, placement or a grade, and neither reviewed this page before it published. Everything above comes from public material on the dates shown. How the index grades.