Legalcommunity Week 2026: on 8 June Milan hosts the first symposium on the future of the legal market

From nine in the morning until late afternoon, the Hotel Principe di Savoia in Piazza della Repubblica becomes the beating heart of the debate on the legal profession and the legal market. With the patronage of Intesa Sanpaolo, Legalcommunity Week 2026 officially opens, marked by a high-profile symposium — “Elite Legal Symposium: Shaping the Future of the Legal Market in Italy and Worldwide” — which for the first time brings together around the same table the entire constellation of key players in national business law, from managing partners of the largest Italian law firms to general counsel of multinational companies, from the leadership of the Big Four legal practices to the heads of global firms operating in the country.

The initiative, now in its tenth edition, is organised by LC Publishing Group, the publishing house behind Legalcommunity and MAG, and is designed as the founding moment of a week that has now become the reference event for the Italian legal sector.

A stage, six conversations

The day’s programme is structured into six roundtables, each dedicated to a crucial issue in the market. The underlying thread is a central question running through the entire symposium: in a context of technological acceleration, international consolidation and the redefinition of organisational models, where is the legal profession heading?

Opening the proceedings, after institutional greetings from Aldo Scaringella (CEO, LC Publishing Group), Antonino La Lumia (President of the Milan Bar Association) and Giovanni Lega (Founding Partner of LCA Studio Legale and honorary president of ASLA), is Legalcommunity & MAG editor-in-chief Nicola Di Molfetta, with an introductory speech on trends in the international legal market. This is followed by the keynote by Jacques Moscianese, Executive Director and Group Head of Institutional Affairs at Intesa Sanpaolo, who frames the topic from the perspective of one of the main financial counterparts of Italian companies.

The major Italian firms: mergers, growth and value creation

The first roundtable immediately addresses one of the most debated topics of recent years: the ongoing consolidation process, with merger and integration deals reshaping the sector’s map. Taking part are representatives of the leadership of the country’s leading firms: Eliana Catalano of BonelliErede, Bruno Gattai of PedersoliGattai, Francesco Gatti of Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici, Filippo Modulo of Chiomenti, Filippo Troisi of Legance and Giuseppe Velluto of Gianni & Origoni. A conversation that promises to be rich in content, moderated by Di Molfetta himself: six voices that together represent the upper tier of the domestic legal market.

The view of global firms on Italy

With the second roundtable, the perspective widens. The topic is Italy seen from the outside — or rather, from within those international firms that have chosen to invest significantly in the Italian market. Roberto Bonsignore (Cleary Gottlieb), Patrizio Messina (Hogan Lovells Italy), Laura Orlando (Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer) and Paolo Sersale (Clifford Chance Italy) discuss how global firms interpret the opportunities and specific features of the Italian system. Moderated by Ilaria Iaquinta, editor of Iberian Lawyer.

The new generation in charge

The third panel shifts the focus to emerging leadership models. “Nextgen partners: a new model of leadership in law firms” is not just a slogan: it is the snapshot of a generation of managing partners who have inherited firms in transition and are leading them with new approaches. On stage, Leonardo Graffi (White & Case Italy), Michele Milanese (Ashurst Italy), Paolo Nastasi (A&O Shearman Italy) and Ermelinda Spinelli (Freshfields LLP). The moderator is once again Di Molfetta.

The Big Four in legal: when consulting meets law

After lunch, the day resumes with an intervention by Giorgio Martellino, General Counsel of Avio and President of AIGI, preceding the fourth roundtable: one of the most anticipated in terms of market implications. The panel addresses the advance of consulting giants into legal services: Daniele Caneva (EY), Francesco Paolo Bello (Deloitte Legal Italy), Barbara Pontecorvo (PwC Legal STA), Sabrina Pugliese (KPMG) and Giovanni Stefanin (BDO Law Sta) are called upon to explain how their respective models are changing — and in part overturning — the traditional dynamics of the Italian legal market. Moderated by Iaquinta.

The voice of general counsel: navigating global complexity

The fifth panel further broadens the perspective, bringing into the room not only the supply of legal services but also the demand for them. It is the voice of general counsel from major international groups: Stéphanie Fougou (Hbxgroup plc and ECLA), Patricia Miranda (SNCF Voyages Italia), Alicia Muñoz Lombardia (Santander Spain), Agostino Nuzzolo (TIM), Javier Ramirez (HP Inc. and ACC Europe) and Nicola Verdicchio (Pirelli). A perspective that rarely finds space in a sector event with this level of depth: how are external advisers selected? What are the new priorities? How is the relationship between in-house teams and law firms changing? Moderated by Michela Cannovale, deputy editor-in-chief of Inhousecommunity & MAG.

The cultural origins of Italian business law

The closing session is entrusted to a roundtable that is both historical and forward-looking: “Business lawyering: how it all began” brings together some of the founding figures of Italian business law. Luca Arnaboldi (Carnelutti), Enrico Castaldi (CastaldiPartners), Stefania Radoccia (BIP Law and Tax) and Franco Toffoletto (Toffoletto De Luca Tamajo) trace the trajectory of a market that has transformed radically in just a few decades, and attempt to read from that history the main directions of the future.

A special day

8 June 2026 will most likely mark a date in the history of the Italian legal profession. Not only because of the presence of so many key figures from the sector in a single place, but because of the bold attempt to turn open discussion into a tool for collective understanding. The legal services market in Italy is changing rapidly: mergers are reshaping the balance among domestic firms, global firms are raising the level of competition, the Big Four are eroding spaces traditionally occupied by lawyers, and general counsel are demanding more added value and less commodity work. Legalcommunity Week aims to provide these phenomena with a space for reflection.