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Communitas ‘26: Co-opetition is the future

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What to Expect

LexNova Guild's inaugural conference is unlike any other legal event.

Three days of connection, of practical wisdom, and of conversation that only occurs when progressive lawyers feel safe enough to be honest about what's working (and what’s not).

It’s about sharing seasons of feast. Of weathering moments of famine. And of building friendships so necessary to thrive in the law.

❋ Why Hobart? Why June?

We chose Hobart deliberately. In early winter, Tasmania's capital wraps itself in a moody, creative energy that's impossible to replicate anywhere else. The RACV Hobart Hotel sits right in the heart of the city's cultural precinct—heritage sandstone buildings meet contemporary design, with the Derwent River glittering just beyond

❋ Who's Coming?

Around 100 decision-makers: solo practitioners and small firm owners who are done with isolation, mid-career lawyers building sustainable practices, and aligned service providers who understand independent firms. This is an intimate gathering by design—we're creating the conditions for trust, not just transactions

❋ Conference Day, 5th June

We're announcing our full speaker line-up in March 2026, but expect keynotes and panels from legal enfants terribles who've actually built the kinds of practices you want—collaborative, sustainable, and profitable. Three streamed workshops mean you can dive deep into the topics that matter most to your firm.

❋ Dark LexNo Gala Ball, 5th June

Our signature celebration draws inspiration from Hobart's gothic, creative winter spirit. Think a black-tie masked gala, candlelight, local produce and the kind of dinner conversation you'll still be thinking about months later. This is where the magic happens, where the foundations of co-opetition are born

  • Before the official program kicks off, invitees come together for pre-conference drinks. This isn't networking: it's the beginning of co-opetition relationships with people who want to compete with BigLaw.

  • Extend your Hobart stay with one of two curated experiences:

    ·       MONA group visit: Explore Australia's most provocative private museum with fellow delegates. Tickets to the Mona ferry ‘PoshPit’ with snacks and dranks included.

    Sullivans Cove whiskey flight: Sample award-winning Tasmanian single malts in an environment sans pareil.

❋ Why come to Communitas ‘26?

If you're curious about co-opetition (collaboration without losing your independence), tired of the "eat what you kill" mentality, or simply ready to grow your practice with people who share your values, this is your community in the law.

Tickets Now Available

$650.00 inc. GST ‘til sold out.

That's full conference access, all delicious catering, the blacktie masked DarkLexNo Ball, and three workshop streams—plus the intangible value of being in the founding cohort of something genuinely different.

Word to the wise: our speakers have all been given their individual discount codes to proffer to delegates. Head over to our Speakers page to learn more about each, before connecting with them online.

Ready to be part of the inaugural Communitas?

  • Details to come shortly.

Communitas ‘26 // An Itinerary

  • 6PM. RACV Club Hobart.

    Strictly by invitation to LexNova Guild Members and Communitas ‘26 Sponsors.

  • Welcome to Australia’s strangest, most wonderful legal festival exploring and celebrating co-opetition.

  • Arrival from 8:15 AM

    Pick up your delegate pass, explore the space, and connect with fellow Guild members and Sponsors before the day begins. The coffee cart and a certain Lawyer Magic Shop await!

  • MC: Iolanthe Gabrie | Welcome to Country: Nipaluna Elder
    Iolanthe Gabrie opens Communitas '26 and sets the tone for a day of frank conversation about the way we ‘do’ law. We begin with a Welcome to Country from a Nipaluna Elder Delia Summers, honouring the history of the land on which we gather.

  • Some cases change the law. Some change the conversation. The Ladies' Lounge case did both.

    Catherine Scott is the Tasmanian Barrister who served as lead counsel for MONA in one of the most talked-about discrimination cases in recent Australian legal history — successfully arguing all the way to the Supreme Court that Kirsha Kaechele's women-only installation was a legitimate instrument of equal opportunity, not a breach of it. In her session at Communitas '26, Catherine goes deep on the legal strategy, the creative brief, and what it means to use the law itself as an artistic and activist instrument.


  • Roughly 10–20% of the global population is neurodivergent — and the legal profession, with its appetite for hyperfocus, logical rigour and analytical depth, draws them in disproportionate numbers. Yet law remains one of the least accommodating workplaces for the very people it attracts.

    Drawing on her work as a neurodiversity coach, Justine makes the case that neurodiverse practitioners aren't a liability to be managed — they're a competitive advantage waiting to be unlocked — and offers Guild members a practical framework for building practices where neurodivergent lawyers genuinely thrive.

  • 30 minutes

    Grab a coffee and keep the conversation going. The hall and Stables is where half the conference happens.

  • Time-based billing has dominated legal practice for decades. AI is about to make that very uncomfortable.

    Yule Guttenbeil (Principal, Attune Legal) and Talya Faigenbaum (Principal, Nest Legal) are two of Australia's most tech-forward independent practitioners. Together they dig into the architecture of value pricing — how to design it, how to sell it to clients, and why the rise of AI makes the shift from hours to outcomes not just desirable, but inevitable. If you've been curious about pricing differently but unsure where to start, this session will give you both the framework and the confidence.

  • Three principal lawyers at chapters of the legal practice life-cycle opine on what each stage demands differently of them. Kirstie Colls (Tosh Colls Family Law), Rebecca Johnston-Ryan ( Johnston Ryan Legal) and Megan Puszkar (Macedon Ranges Family Law) speak candidly about co-opetition in action — the referrals, the risks, the relationships, and what it really means to grow together while retaining your own business culture.

  • A proper stop for breath. Rest, refuel, and meet a new collaborator or two.

  • "No way in hell. Maybe one." That's Annalise's answer when asked whether two male founders would have made the same structural choices building Romer Maud.

    This session tells the Romer Maud origin story through the lens of intentional design — the specific choices two women made when they finally built something themselves, after being run into the ground elsewhere. The co-opetition thread runs through everything: shared principleship, complementary strengths, and the understanding that covering for each other isn't a concession — it's the model.

  • Former Executive Director of Legal Optimisation Consulting at MinterEllison, Mollie walked away from Big Law to create something entirely new. Her session is a candid account of what fulfilment actually looks like in legal practice — and the permission slip you didn't know you needed.

  • Stretch, breathe, and ready yourself for the keynote.

  • Hall of Fame keynote speaker, bestselling author of The Game Changer and How to Lead a Quest, and self-described wizard-philosopher, Dr. Jason Fox works with clever teams seeking meaningful progress beyond the default. His keynote closes the day with the kind of thinking that makes you reconsider every assumption you walked in with — and leaves you genuinely excited to act.

  • Iolanthe brings the day together, names what mattered, and sends you into the evening ready for the Dark LexNo Gala.

Discount codes exist if you know where to find ‘em.

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