About me
Who I am
I am Felipe Drummond. I graduated in law from UERJ — Rio de Janeiro State University in 2013 and have been a public defender since 2017. I have always been a bit of a nerd and I like computers and technology, but I am not a professional programmer: I am a tech savvy guy with business-domain knowledge inside the justice system. I have been working on innovation in access to justice, data-driven management in the public sector and the automation of departmental routines.
At a Gartner talk in August 2026, I learned that the trend in the field is the rise of more people in the role, formal or informal, of what they call a business technologist. That is someone formally outside IT, who knows the business and “butts in” to build software. The description fits what I have been doing.
In a world where writing both code and legal text is becoming incredibly easier, knowledge at the interface between disciplines, and the foundations of each field, gain relevance for delivering better work.
My biggest drive in this life is to keep learning, so I can innovate and deliver (and give myself) better in whatever I work on. And may it always be fun, because without the pleasure of the activity, what starts out cool becomes just another dull job that will bore me quickly. I made this site to share my projects and to meet people who are on the same wavelength.
Where I work
I am a public defender at the Public Defender’s Office of the State of Rio Grande do Sul.
- I served in Santana do Livramento (2017–2019) and Rio Grande (2019–2024), and I am now assigned to the 12th Public Defender’s Unit in Pelotas, focusing on civil law.
- For now, I am away from casework to coordinate the Central Office for the Collection of Court-Awarded Fees (CECOF) and the Calculations Section of the Specialised Technical Support Centre.
- I advise the Office of the Deputy Public Defender General for Institutional Affairs on strategic data.
- I sit on the DPERS IT Council.
What I do
- Since July 2024, I have been building browser extensions for the Defensoria’s Portal with AI:
- Recently, I moved into building back-office systems, supporting and being supported by the IT department (DTI).
- I build the prototype, and sometimes the whole system. I work directly with a small team (or even alone). The team can grow with the size of the project and how critical it is. That is the case of Centrais and Completivos:
- I build BI dashboards and advise on strategic data about the Public Defender’s Office:
- I have also been making things that have nothing to do with the Defensoria, for personal growth and as a way to keep learning. I got a bit hooked on Stream Deck plugins, as you can probably tell.
What I like
I like cats, metal, Radiohead, rock concerts and restoring iPods (it has to be the classic, with the click wheel). I also like writing: my current blog, in Portuguese, is called O Ser Nostálgico. I have always liked tinkering with computers and setting up networks. As a teenager, I made blog templates, so I dabbled in a bit of HTML and web design. In law, I enjoy civil matters and have always studied Jurisprudence, especially legal positivism and the thought of Hans Kelsen.
Where else to find me
Let’s talk
Want to exchange ideas? Talk about a project? Mature an innovation idea for the justice system? Write to me at [email protected]. I am open to talking both with people from law and with people from software development, always in the best cooperative spirit :)
Notice
This is a strictly personal website.
The opinions and projects presented here, except where noted, do not represent the Public Defender’s Office of the State of Rio Grande do Sul.
