// 6 apps · deploy as one
Legal Office Stack
Document management + OCR + AI document assistant + encrypted file storage + secure passwords. Confidential workflows under GDPR + bar-association data residency rules.
What this stack is
Legal Office Stack is a complete, GDPR-clean document and AI workflow suite for law firms. One-click deploys document management (Nextcloud), OCR scanning + auto-tagging (Paperless), real-time collaborative drafting (OnlyOffice), an AI document assistant (Open WebUI + Ollama), and an encrypted password vault (Vaultwarden) — all on a single VPS under the firm's own domain.
For the hosting provider, this is a vertical product that solves a real legal-sector problem: lawyers want AI for drafts and research but cannot push client matter documents to ChatGPT, Copilot, or any US cloud. This stack gives them AI without breach risk.
What it's for
- Matter document management — every client folder, every contract, every brief in Nextcloud with audit-logged access
- Bulk paper scan → searchable archive — Paperless OCRs incoming mail, court documents, signed contracts, tags by client/matter automatically
- Live collaborative drafting — partner + associate edit the same brief in OnlyOffice, with track changes + version history
- AI-assisted research — Open WebUI lets the team ask Llama/Mistral questions across all the firm's own precedents, contracts, and case files (RAG over Paperless+Nextcloud) — never leaves the VPS
- Password & credential vault — Vaultwarden replaces shared Excel files for client portal credentials, vendor logins, 2FA seeds
- Audit-ready — every document access, every AI prompt logged with user + timestamp, exportable for bar-association inspections
Who it's for
- Boutique law firms (5-25 lawyers) that need modern tooling without enterprise IT budget
- Solo practitioners who want one secure place for everything client-related
- Corporate legal departments at mid-size companies (50-500 employees) needing internal-only AI access for contract review
- Notaries & legal administrators working with sensitive financial + identity documents
- Bar-association compliant practices in jurisdictions where US cloud storage is explicitly prohibited
Apps in this stack
| App | Role |
|---|---|
| Nextcloud | Matter folder structure, file sync, sharing, calendar, contacts, audit log |
| Paperless | Document OCR, tagging, full-text search, automatic client/matter inbox routing |
| OnlyOffice | Real-time collaborative editing of Word/Excel/PowerPoint compatible documents |
| Open WebUI | Lawyer-facing AI chat with RAG across firm documents |
| Ollama | Local LLM runtime — Llama 3.3, Mistral, Mixtral run on the VPS |
| Vaultwarden | Encrypted password vault, 2FA seeds, shared team credentials |
Sizing & deployment
- Recommended VPS: 12 GB RAM, 6 vCPU, 200 GB NVMe storage
- GPU optional — CPU-only inference works well for legal documents (focus on quality not speed). 13B models with 16GB RAM acceptable
- Encrypted at rest: VPS-level disk encryption + per-folder Nextcloud E2EE for highest-sensitivity matters
- Deploy time: ~25-30 min one-click, all SSL automatic via Let's Encrypt
- Backup profile: nightly off-VPS encrypted backup of Paperless archive + Nextcloud data + Vaultwarden vault (Hetzner Storage Box / S3-compatible)
Why hosters sell this
Law firms are price-insensitive when it comes to data confidentiality but technically un-served by mainstream cloud tools. Sell this stack as a turnkey legal IT package.
Common resale shape:
- Solo practice tier — 1-3 lawyers, single VPS, CPU-only inference, basic off-VPS backup
- Boutique firm tier — 5-15 lawyers, larger VPS, off-VPS backup with retention policy, support SLA
- Mid-size practice tier — 15-50 lawyers, dedicated infra, GPU optional, white-label branding, dedicated DPO contact
Stack retail pricing is set by the hoster based on their cost stack (VPS + Bluix license + support). See the suggested retail hint on this page as a starting anchor; refer to bluix.net/bluixapps.php for the Bluix module license layer.
Hosters with existing accountant/professional-services customer base have a natural lateral sales path. Bar-association partnerships (sponsor newsletters, conference sponsorships) consistently yield strong-quality leads — compliance pain is universal and law-firm IT decision-makers convene in predictable channels.
GDPR & compliance profile
- Zero data leaves the VPS — no telemetry, no cloud LLM, no third-party processor in the default config
- Audit log: every document access + every AI prompt + every login, with user identity, timestamp, IP
- At-rest encryption: VPS disk-level + optional Nextcloud E2EE per folder
- DPA-ready templates included for processor (hoster) ↔ controller (law firm) relationship
- Bar-association compliant in EU jurisdictions where client documents must remain on EU soil
- Audit-ready for ISO 27001 / SOC 2 if the firm needs corporate-client compliance