I generally don't secondary for three reasons:
1) It risks introducing oxygen or germs into the beer.
2) It's a pain in the butt.
3) It makes no difference in most styles. I mean NO difference. You can make beer just as good (or better or worse) without it.
What I do is let it go two or three weeks and take a grav reading to make sure the yeast finished. Then I stick it in a cold (~50*F) corner of the basement and leave it for another two or three weeks. This lets the yeast settle out. Then I am careful not to stir things up when I bottle, and I get clear beers. I mean clear like I can read newsprint through a pint glass full of my pale ale (I do use irish moss in the boil). I am very happy with the taste of my beers fermented this way too, they are local micro-quality. I don't worry about yeast autolysis, I wouldn't do a secondary unless I planned to ferment for over six weeks or was doing a lager. If you don't have a cold spot in your basement, don't worry. The main thing to do is give the yeast time to finish and settle out, four or five weeks in the bucket does it. If you are not concerned about clarity you could easily cut it to three. Brown ale is a very forgiving style and you certainly don't need a secondary for it. But if your heart is set on it, go for it (lots of people make great beer that way and I used to do it too, I noticed no difference in quality when I stopped).
The main disadvantage to my technique is... it takes a while. And then three weeks to prime. I used to hate waiting that long but I have a closet full of previous batches to keep me happy now. It's all about the pipeline!