What a PI Case Looks Like Inside a Legal Operations Layer
Follow one car accident matter from the 9pm call to the demand draft, with the attorney in the chair.
A legal operations layer runs a personal injury matter from the first call through case prep and collections, with an attorney reviewing every draft. It sits in front of the practice management system you already use and takes over the repeatable work that normally eats a small firm's staff hours. The lawyer still practices law and still signs off on everything. One attorney simply moves more matters without building a bench of coordinators and assistants to do it.
This post follows a single car accident case through that layer, one handoff at a time, so you can see what each agent does and where the attorney steps in. The case is invented, but the workflow is the real thing.
What is a legal operations layer?
A legal operations layer is a set of role based agents that handle intake, contract review, case preparation, demand letter drafting, and collections follow-up as one connected system, rather than five point tools bought separately at opaque prices. Each agent produces a draft or a completed unit of work. A licensed attorney reviews that output and adopts it before anything leaves the firm. You can read more about how an AI operations layer works for law firms if you want the full picture before the walkthrough.
The difference from a feature checklist is breadth. Most legal tech does one document type well and leaves the rest to you. A point vendor charges for one slice at a price you often cannot see until you are on a sales call. The layer covers the span of a matter, and the free CRM underneath it holds the contacts, matters, documents, and client portal in one place.
A 9pm call: where the matter starts
At 9:04pm on a Tuesday, someone rear-ended at a stoplight finds your firm and calls. No one is at the office. The intake coordinator answers by voice on the first ring, 24/7, the same way it answers at 2pm.
It asks the questions that decide whether this is a case: when and where the collision happened, whether there was a police report, whether the caller has seen a doctor, who the caller believes was at fault. It does not assess the merits of the claim and it does not give legal advice. It gathers facts, confirms the caller is inside your intake criteria, and books a consult on the calendar for the next morning.
The 9pm car accident lead signs with whoever picks up, and on contingency a missed call is the whole fee.
By the time you open your laptop, the lead is qualified, the consult is booked, and the intake notes are in the matter. Compare that to the alternative, where the call rolls to voicemail and the caller dials the next firm on the list. If you want the math on that, here is what a missed call actually costs a personal injury firm.
The attorney decides, every time
Here is the part that matters most, and it is a selling point, not fine print. Nothing the intake coordinator captured becomes a representation decision on its own. You review the qualified intake, you decide whether to take the matter, and you sign the engagement. The agent books and organizes. The lawyer practices law.
This holds at every handoff that follows. A draft is a draft until a licensed attorney reads it, edits it, and adopts it. The supervision chain is not a disclaimer bolted on at the end. It is how the layer is built, because that is what keeps a firm on the right side of its professional obligations while still moving fast.
From file to demand draft
Once you take the case, the work that usually stalls starts moving in parallel.
Case preparation assembles what your team needs to push the matter forward. It organizes the file, tracks what records are outstanding, and keeps the matter from going quiet while you focus on the cases in front of you. When the signed release or an insurer's agreement comes in, the contract analyst reviews it and flags the terms that actually matter, so the fine print does not slip past on a busy week.
Then the demand letter drafter turns the assembled file into a complete demand letter draft, with the special damages laid out and the narrative built from the record. Nothing in a personal injury case moves until that demand goes out, and half-drafted demands are where small firms lose weeks. The draft lands on your desk for review. You adjust the number, tighten the argument, and send it under your name.
When the matter resolves, collections follow-up keeps the post-resolution outreach on a cadence, so the file does not go quiet while a check works its way through. It chases the open items and confirms the disbursement steps on schedule, and it never touches the money itself. You stay in control of the ledger and the client relationship.
- •Intake coordinator: answers, qualifies, and books, 24/7
- •Case preparation: assembles the file and chases what is missing
- •Contract analyst: reviews agreements and flags the terms that matter
- •Demand letter drafter: turns the file into a complete draft
- •Collections follow-up: keeps post-resolution outreach on a cadence
Each of those is a unit of work with a published price, and each one ends with your review.
What it costs, and what it never costs
Every step above is priced flat, per completed unit, and the price is published. Qualified intake runs about $18. A contract review is $65. Case preparation is $95. A demand letter draft is $170. Collections follow-up is flat per unit as well. There are no seats to buy, no tiers to climb, and no quote to request.
Set that against a part-time intake specialist or legal assistant at $3,000 to $4,000 a month who still works business hours. The layer answers the 9pm call, the CRM underneath is free and never invoiced, and you pay only for the work that gets done.
The fee is never a percentage of a recovery. It is identical whether a case settles for a little or a lot, which is the whole point for a contingency firm choosing between a vendor and someone with a hand in the fee. The firm also never holds, transmits, or takes custody of client funds. Flat, published, and out of the settlement entirely.
Frequently asked questions
Does the operations layer replace my case management software?
No. The layer sits in front of the practice management system you already use and handles the repeatable work around it. You keep your system of record, and the free CRM adds contacts, matters, documents, and a client portal if you want them.
Who reviews what the agents produce?
A licensed attorney at your firm reviews and adopts every output before it leaves the office. The agents draft, qualify, organize, and follow up. They do not give legal advice, assess claim merits, determine conflicts, or compute deadlines. The lawyer does.
How is a legal operations layer priced?
Flat, published, per completed unit of work. Qualified intake is about $18, contract review is $65, case preparation is $95, and a demand letter draft is $170. The CRM is free, there are no seats, and committed plans add a discounted rate with a simple monthly minimum rather than anything prepaid.
Does Nimbus Marlowe take a percentage of my settlement?
Never. The fee is the same regardless of outcome, and it is not tied to any recovery, settlement, or judgment. The firm also never holds or takes custody of client funds.
If you want to see your own first matter run through the layer, you can start free today and keep the CRM at no cost, or grab a time with our team to walk through the handoffs for your firm. Either way, the attorney stays in the chair and the price stays on the page.
Put your firm's operations on autopilot. Reviewed by you.
Nimbus Marlowe is the AI operations layer for personal-injury firms. The CRM is free, pricing is flat and per-unit, and every output is a draft your attorneys review and adopt.