Legalcommunity Week 2026: General counsel too sophisticated for law firms?
The general counsel is no longer simply the guardian of compliance or the executive responsible for ensuring the legal correctness of corporate decisions. Increasingly, today’s general counsel are expected to contribute directly to strategic decision-making, helping organizations navigate risk, innovation, technology and transformation.
This will be one of the central themes of the roundtable “Are clients becoming more sophisticated? The evolution of general counsel”, taking place on June 10 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the Principe di Savoia in Milan, as part of Legalcommunity Week 2026.
The discussion will feature Simone Davini (General Counsel Italy, Deutsche Bank), Pietro Galizzi (Head of Legal, Regulatory & Compliance Affairs, Eni Plenitude Società Benefit), Luís Graça Rodrigues (Regional Legal Director, Minsait), Andrea Moretti (Head of Legal Italy, eBay), Adriano Peloso (Legal Director EMEA, Italy, Iberia & Israel, Lenovo and Board Member of AIGI), and Sabrina Pugliese (Partner and Head of Legal Services at KPMG). The session will be moderated by Michela Cannovale, Deputy Editor of LC Publishing Group.
The conversation will build on the findings of the “2026 KPMG Global General Counsel Outlook”, a report that highlights the increasingly strategic evolution of the GC role — from gatekeeper to business partner. According to the research, 75% of general counsel are now regularly involved in non-legal matters, while 92% interact consistently with their boards.
This shift reflects the growing complexity of the environment in which companies operate. Regulatory pressure, technological acceleration, reputational risk, AI governance and faster decision-making cycles are reshaping the relationship between business and legal functions.
Among the key topics that will emerge during the roundtable will be the involvement of legal teams from the earliest stages of business decision-making as well as the evolution of the legal ecosystem itself. Companies are no longer evaluating external advisors solely on technical expertise, but increasingly on their ability to integrate into corporate operating models and technology environments. Artificial intelligence will also play a central role in the discussion. AI is no longer viewed merely as a productivity tool, but as a force capable of reshaping the legal operating model itself. Governance, measurable value creation, new KPIs and changing expectations toward law firms and legal providers will all be part of the debate.
Ultimately, however, the underlying question may be the most interesting one: are clients truly becoming more sophisticated, or simply more demanding? And, above all, what will the role of the general counsel look like in organizations that are increasingly complex, interconnected and data-driven? The roundtable will attempt to answer exactly that.
(Pictured above, from left: Rodrigues, Peloso, Moretti; below, from left: Galizzi, Pugliese, Davini)
