Dye & Durham Legal Accounts vs LexNebulis

Dye & Durham Legal Accounts is accounting software for law firms, with tools for legal cashiers, COLPs and COFAs. It supports compliance with SRA, HMRC, CLC Accounts Code and Scottish Accounts Rules, as well as MTD and AML. Warnings and alerts identify possible breaches across client and office ledgers. The software automates routine transactions such as disbursements, bills, client money and deposits, and includes automatic bank feeds and reconciliation. Reporting covers batch month-end and year-end reports, configurable management reports, and VAT return preparation and submission to HMRC using MTD-compatible software. Billing tools include automated time recording and custom invoice templates. Other capabilities include e-chit posting, bank account and sort code verification, cheque printing, a purchase ledger, multiple open accounting periods and Legal Aid Agency-compatible submissions. Integrations include Microsoft Office, Outlook, Word, Excel, legal-industry products and leading UK banks. Dye & Durham describes it as mobile-friendly and usable with an internet connection and a device. It is available on Android, iOS and web. Pricing is on request; prospective customers can contact the company or request a demo.

LexNebulis is a free, self-hosted legal practice management platform for small law firms. It handles clients and matters, documents, calendars, time tracking, billing, and trust accounting. Legal workflows include conflict checks, client intake, document templates and generation, e-signature, and a client portal. Billing supports LEDES 1998B and 2000 export, UTBMS codes, and electronic invoice submission. Listed connections cover Stripe and LawPay payments, QuickBooks and CSV accounting export, and Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, and OneDrive storage. Security features include encryption at rest and in transit, bcrypt password hashing, JWT authentication, and TOTP or WebAuthn/FIDO2 two-factor authentication. Its append-only audit log uses SHA-256 hash chaining to make tampering or deletion detectable. The software is free for commercial use under Apache License 2.0. Installation requires Docker and Docker Compose v2, at least 2 GB RAM, and at least 10 GB disk space. The guide specifies a Linux server and recommends Ubuntu 22.04 or later; macOS is specified for development. The project wiki describes a target range of 1 to 50 users.