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English technology lawyer Neil Brown published a November 6, 2026 update on the free software he uses to run his small firm, decoded.legal. The account describes desktop and server tools, including a shift from Nextcloud to Syncthing and Radicale, but does not provide cost, security-audit or performance data.
Neil Brown, a lawyer who runs the small English firm decoded.legal, published an update on November 6 describing the free software he uses for its daily work. The account covers his desktop tools and self-hosted services, offering a practitioner’s view of how a technology-focused law firm handles documents, email, time tracking and other operations without relying entirely on commercial software.
On his main computer, a ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6, Brown runs Debian with the GNOME desktop. He uses Thunderbird and the text-based email client mutt, and produces Word documents in LibreOffice when exchanging files with other lawyers. For other writing, he uses Markdown with vim, then converts files with pandoc and typst. Presentations are built with reveal.js, using Markdown and a script he wrote to set up a template.
His other desktop tools include Evince for reading PDFs, Xournal++ for annotation, and PDFarranger and pdftk for PDF editing. He lists espanso for text shortcuts, Firefox for browsing, vimwiki for professional notes, LUKS for disk encryption, and Cryptomator for encrypting files before synchronization. The article also names paperless-ngx for scanning and Bitwarden, hosted through vaultwarden, for password management; Brown says he uses YubiKeys for more sensitive credentials.
Most of the services on the firm’s server side are self-hosted, according to Brown; Signal is the exception. The listed systems include Postfix and Dovecot for email, InvoicePlane for generating PDF invoices, Kimai for time tracking, EspoCRM for matter management, WireGuard for VPN access, Greenbone/OpenVAS for vulnerability scanning and Uptime Kuma for monitoring. Brown says the firm now uses Syncthing for file synchronization and Radicale for calendar and contact services, after moving away from Nextcloud because he was not getting on with it and it caused more problems than it solved.
How the Firm Handles Daily Work
Brown’s account matters as a specific working example of free software in a professional legal setting. Law firms handle confidential client information and depend on reliable systems for correspondence, documents, records and billing. His list shows the range of tasks that can be covered by a combination of desktop applications and services operated on the firm’s own infrastructure.
The report is a description of one firm’s choices, not a comparative study or a recommendation that other firms adopt the same setup. It gives no figures for software costs, maintenance time, security outcomes or service availability. Those details would be needed to judge the financial or operational case for the approach, particularly for firms with different staffing, compliance obligations or technical capacity.
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Changes Since Earlier Updates
Brown says he began running decoded.legal on free software on both client and server systems about five years before this update. He previously wrote about the experience after roughly the first year, then published another update in 2024. The 2026 post follows a recent question about what he currently uses and says the setup is mostly unchanged, though some components have shifted.
The clearest service change is the move from Nextcloud to Syncthing for file synchronization, alongside Radicale for calendar and contact data. Brown also says he stopped running a Jitsi video-conferencing server a few months before writing because it saw little use: he was usually joining meetings hosted on Teams or Zoom by other people. He now offers Signal instead and reports no complaints. He uses Intel NUC computers for most server duties, while retaining fewer Raspberry Pi devices than before.
“I just was not getting on with [Nextcloud], and it was causing me more problems than it solved.”
— Neil Brown, decoded.legal
Limits of the Published Account
The post records Brown’s own experience but does not report an independent security assessment, a full breakdown of operating costs, or measurements of uptime and staff time. It also does not specify how client data is backed up, what access controls are used across every service, or how the setup meets particular legal or regulatory requirements. The account should not be read as evidence that the same configuration is suitable for every law firm.
Some issues remain open for Brown himself. He says the laptop’s Thunderbolt and USB-C ports are unreliable for data, though they work for power, and he may need to replace the machine without yet knowing what model he would choose. He also says he needs to move the firm’s email infrastructure at some point and wants to investigate Stalwart. The source excerpt cuts off during the monitoring section, so it may not contain the complete list of tools or Brown’s full remarks.
Possible Hardware and Mail Changes
Brown does not announce a schedule for changing the firm’s hardware or email systems. His next stated steps are to decide whether to replace the ThinkPad and, at an unspecified time, consider moving the mail infrastructure and evaluating Stalwart. Until then, the article describes the current setup as a mix of established desktop applications and self-hosted services, with Syncthing and Radicale in place of Nextcloud and Signal offered instead of the firm’s former Jitsi server.
Key Questions
Who published the 2026 account?
Neil Brown, who runs decoded.legal, a small English law firm focused on internet, telecommunications and technology law, published it on November 6, 2026.
What changed since Brown’s previous update?
Brown says he replaced Nextcloud with Syncthing for file synchronization and uses Radicale for calendar and contact services. He also stopped running Jitsi and now offers Signal for video calls.
Does the article show that free software reduces a law firm’s costs?
No. Brown describes the tools he uses but gives no cost comparison, maintenance figures or financial analysis.
What changes might Brown make next?
He says he may replace his ThinkPad because its USB-C and Thunderbolt ports are unreliable for data. He also plans to review the firm’s mail infrastructure and says he wants to look at Stalwart, without giving a timeline.
Source: decoded.legal
