Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 08.07.2025 
At Smokeball, we’ve always believed that even small law firms deserve big technology.
That’s what drives us to keep innovating, keep pushing boundaries, and keep finding new ways to make every day legal work faster, easier, and more intuitive.
As such, we’re thrilled that our in-platform AI assistant, Archie, has been shortlisted for the UK Business Tech Awards 2025 – recognition that means the world to our team on all sides of the globe.
Who and what is Smokeball?
In short, Smokeball is a cloud-based legal practice management software that supports small law firms in the UK, the US and Australia.
We understand the daily pressures small law firms face – high caseloads, low margins, and time-consuming admin.
Our mission is to help those firms thrive by automating routine tasks, improving productivity, and providing powerful insights that help teams do more with less.
With the launch of Archie, we’ve taken a major leap forward in how we use artificial intelligence to support this mission.
Meet Archie – AI with a legal assistant’s brain
Our shortlisted entry focused on Archie, Smokeball’s intelligent AI assistant that is built directly into the platform – not tacked on, not separate, but embedded where our users work every day.
Archie was designed to help legal professionals access the information they need, faster, with zero disruption.
It uses natural language processing to instantly answer questions like:
- “Summarise the key dates for the Jones lease.”
- Write me an email to Muhammad, explaining where we are in his visa application process.”
- Summarise this 4-page file note into dot points
- What has happened on this matter in the last 2 weeks?
- Draft a letter to the client highlighting the risks contained in the property report
What makes Archie unique is not just the use of AI, but the contextual understanding it brings.
Because Smokeball already stores rich matter data – documents, emails, tasks, deadlines, file notes – Archie can provide precise, meaningful answers in seconds.
As Rachel Holmes, Managing Director of Smokeball UK puts it:
“AI can often feel like a buzzword, but Archie proves it can be practical, grounded, and genuinely transformative.”
“Our clients don’t want gimmicks. They want smart tools that save them time and give them back control – and that’s exactly what Archie does.”
It’s AI that actually understands how small law firms work.
Why being shortlisted matters so much to the Smokeball team
Being shortlisted for the UK Business Tech Awards is not just a proud moment for our tech team – it’s a reflection of the work done by our whole global business to make AI useful, not abstract.
Rachel says:
“We’re honoured that Archie has been recognised as a standout innovation in the legal tech space.”
“This shortlist recognises how we’re harnessing technology in a way that’s human-centric, genuinely helpful, and aligned with our mission to help small firms succeed.”
We’re passionate about building software that makes a real difference in the day-to-day lives of legal professionals – that’s why the shortlist matters so much to us.
The impact so far
Since Archie’s launch, our UK clients have been early adopters – providing crucial feedback and sharing stories of how Archie has already saved hours of admin time, improved client service, and made their teams feel more empowered.
As one of our clients recently put it:
“Archie is such a great time saver for us and takes out a lot of the manual admin tasks we would otherwise have to do, whether it’s finding specific details in a document, eliminating typos and grammar issues. My favourite use for Archie is getting it to summarise lengthy File Notes from client meetings. Another staff member recently used Archie to draft a document including a particular clause and was applauded by our client on the speedy turnaround and precise wording.”
For a lot of legal tech, there’s a learning curve but our goal with Archie is to flatten that curve.
It’s intuitive, responsive, and gets smarter every day.
What’s next?
As we look ahead to the UK Business Tech Awards winners’ announcement on 10th September in London, we’re excited to keep evolving Archie – and the whole Smokeball platform – with the needs of small law firms in mind.
Whether we win or not, we see this shortlist as a clear sign we’re on the right track: delivering AI with purpose, practicality, and real-world results.
We’d like to thank the organisers of the UK Business Tech Awards and wish the best of luck to all other finalists.
It’s a brilliant reminder that innovation is thriving across the UK’s tech landscape – and we’re proud to be a part of it.
Want to find out more about Archie and how Smokeball supports small law firms?
