Layer Legal CRM
Matters, deadlines and client intake for law firms
- From USD 89/month
- 14-day free trial
The short answer
Layer Legal CRM is case and client management software for small and mid-sized law firms. It adds matter records, escalating court-date and limitation reminders, conflict checking, a secure client portal and an AI intake assistant to the Layer CRM platform.
Key takeaways
- Deadlines attached to the matter, not to one person’s calendar
- Reminders escalate until acknowledged by a named fee earner
- Conflict check runs at intake, before the file opens
- Client portal answers status questions without a phone call
Diary failures are the most common source of professional negligence claims against small firms, and they almost always share a shape: one person held the date.
Deadlines that belong to the matter
Court dates, limitation periods and filing deadlines are attached to the matter record. Reminders start well in advance, escalate as the date approaches, and keep escalating — to a supervisor if necessary — until a named person acknowledges them.
Intake and conflict checking
New enquiries run against existing clients and known adverse parties before a file is opened. The check is recorded, so the audit trail exists whether or not anyone remembers doing it.
A portal that answers "any update?"
Clients see their matter status, documents and next steps, and message the firm securely. Every update call a portal prevents is billable time recovered.
Intake that works at 9pm
Layer Assist qualifies the enquiry, checks practice area and jurisdiction, books a consultation and hands over a written summary in the morning.
What's inside
Matters
One record per matter — parties, documents, deadlines, time and correspondence.
Deadline engine
Escalating reminders that keep firing until a named fee earner acknowledges them.
Conflict checks
Automatic screening against clients and adverse parties, recorded at intake.
Client portal
Secure status, documents and messaging — fewer update calls, better client experience.
AI intake
Qualifies out-of-hours enquiries, books consultations and summarises for the morning.
Time & billing
Capture time against matters and produce billing narratives clients can follow.
Feature list
- Everything in Layer CRM
- Matter and case records with document management
- Court date, hearing and limitation tracking
- Escalating reminders with mandatory acknowledgement
- Conflict checking at intake with an audit record
- Secure client portal with document sharing and messaging
- AI intake assistant with practice-area qualification
- Time recording and billing narratives
- Retainer and trust account tracking
- Engagement letter templates with e-signature
- Referral source tracking
- Full audit trail on every matter
Try Layer Legal CRM
14 days free. No card required — we set up your account and import your existing contacts.
Integrations
- Microsoft 365
- Google Workspace
- DocuSign
- Stripe
- Xero
- QuickBooks
- Twilio
Also see everything we build for law firms.
Layer Legal CRM — frequently asked questions
Each deadline generates a reminder schedule — commonly 30, 14, 7, 3 and 1 days out, configurable per deadline type. Reminders go to the responsible fee earner and require explicit acknowledgement. Unacknowledged reminders escalate to a supervising partner rather than expiring quietly.
It tracks time, retainers and trust balances, and integrates with Xero and QuickBooks. It is not a replacement for jurisdiction-specific legal accounting software where your regulator requires one.