The Rome Gallery / The Carob Tree Project

Welcome to the long-form newsletter of the Summit, powered by Ghost – a paid open source platform that doesn't turn its subscribers and readers into a product; a commitment that we, here at Charlie Oscar, also share. Our conference is built and operated for the benefit of the legal community, just like this newsletter platform is built and operated for the benefit of the writers. Keeping things focused, and keeping things simple, is how we survive in these challenging times!

🇮🇹 Summit On Tour III – Gallery

Happy to report that the gallery from 🇮🇹 Summit On Tour III in Rome is now available: as always, it takes some time to edit and re-arrange the material (25K raw shots –> 1.3K in the cutting room –> 700 published photos), but eventually everyone's happy with the flow and the crops, and we're ready to go public –

If you've attended the conference, you now have a chance to re-visit the experience; and if you've missed it, here's a window to what happened in Rome:

📸 Summit On Tour III (Rome 2025) – full gallery

Thanks to the team at Lazio Innova for being such a wonderful host during all these days, and assisting in our every need; and thanks to Simas Bernotas for all the work on the photography side!

🇵🇹 Summit On Tour IV – Registration

This seems like a good opportunity to say that the registration for the next year's edition of Summit On Tour in Porto continues, with the first 20 seats already gone.

For that edition, until April 1, we keep the same registration fee as in 2024 and 2025, to remain accessible to all the associates and studio counsels who stand to benefit from an easier time approving the travel budgets. After April 1, the price will go up a little (as every year we see a higher running cost, and we need to address this to stay solvent).

In Porto, we expect to return to the small-town atmosphere of Limassol and Vilnius, with the majority of the partner hotels located within 500 meters from the venue – thus you can transition between work and event as needed, and, generally, everyone will spend the three days without leaving the same riverside spot.

Thanks to the support of the local super hero Rui Costa and the insights and experience of Porto Editora, we plan to negotiate special conference rates with a few nice hotels in town, whether it will be about price, extras or cancellation policies, so before you book the accommodation, you may want to check with Alma for the list of the recommended spots (ETA: Q1 2026).

🇱🇹 Summit X: The Carob Tree Project

Ever since we introduced the concept of Super Passes at the main conference, these included 2 things: (1) a custom hoodie made here in Vilnius...

...and (2) a birdhouse built here in Vilnius, and deployed in cooperation with the local forestry to service the migratory birds that arrive each spring:

Having populated the local forests with 300+ birdhouses, we consider that mission to be complete, and now we switch to the next level: planting 🌳 carob trees in Cyprus, a contribution that should last well past our lifetimes and provide multiple benefits that withstand the climate crisis.

Now, a couple of things to explain how we arrived there:

(1) I came to view commercial forests as a shortsighted, and rather cynical, greenwashing. A couple of times I was involved in massive planting campaigns which not only were always monoculture, but also, as we found out later, were essentially commercial projects, with the only difference being that they were owned by the state (doesn't change the fact that the trees are not planted for the eco-system, but for commercial harvesting some years later).

(2) Given the accelerating climate change, and the failure of the natural carbon sinks, planting oaks or pines to remove CO2 will stop working before our children reach our age anyways; we need to look at something that would offer more benefits than just what worked 50 years ago (but doesn't work anymore – thanks, turbo-capitalism; given the recent news, a good time to remember the speech of Pope Francis in Lampedusa in 2013: "ci fa vivere in bolle di sapone, che sono belle, ma non sono nulla").

If you attended Summit On Tour II in Limassol, you may remember the name of the venue: The Carob Mill, a factory that was purpose-built for the product that is crucial to the whole eco-system of Cyprus. I started to look into 🌳 carobs... and the more I read, the more it aligned with the ambition to leverage our Super Pass system to create a lasting impact –

• lives for centuries
• provides food and shelter for both birds and mammals
• can withstand months of dry season
• can survive on salted water
• survives in the wild in Cyprus, thrives when amplified with care

Here's the carob trees we saw in the wild, in the western part of the island, mixed here with olives –

And here's an 80-year old carob tree at Kika's Garden, where it grew roots long enough to access the underground stream – it's massive!!

In the end, this is what we agreed, thanks to the assistance of George Mountis:

• we will plant 1 carob tree for each Super Pass at Summit X
• the trees will be planted at Kika's Garden, whose staff will watch over them
• all these trees are set up with the automatic watering system, thanks to the deep well located on the property – accelerating their growth and maturity, until they, too, hit the underground stream on their own

As of now, we already have over 100 Super Passes committed at Summit X. If you're one of the holders, then in addition to the custom hoodie, we will plant a carob tree with a plaque like this:

If you plan to attend Summit X, and take a Super Pass, and will do this within the next week – we'll plant your carob on May 3, the planting day. And if we get the application afterwards, we'll plant your tree in the autumn of this year, right after the actual conference (NB: you can still upgrade a Regular Pass to a Super Pass, if you email Alma).

What's Next?

Here's what's happening on our side these days:

• brand reports for all the conference partners of Summit On Tour III are arriving by the end of the next week; updated sponsorship decks for Summit X will be made available around the same time as well;
• we continue to look into 🇩🇪 Berlin as well as into the smaller towns around 🇫🇷Paris as we look for the new site of the main conference (2026 – 2031); Summit XI is scheduled for the first week of June next year;
• the program for Summit X is in development already, with the first few sessions confirmed; if you have a pitch, please send it over!
• our warehouse now is very well stocked with the cutting edge 0% wines (🇸🇪🇮🇹🇫🇷 Odd Bird) and top-class sparkling teas (🇬🇧 Saicho), as well as mono-varietal apple juice (🇵🇱 Reserwat Jabłek);
• we also took possession of magnums of the champagne (🇫🇷 Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve), magnums of the red (Rioja from 🇪🇸 Valenciso); and the magnums of the white are currently being bottled specifically for the Summit (πρωμάρα/promara from 🇨🇾 Zambartas).
• in May, we need to commit to either the Reserva or the Banana Experiment rum (🇨🇴 La Hechicera), subject to a blind test;
• we're also looking to offer you guys something special with the Anniversary Shelf at the Garden Dinner, that would have a just dozen of bottles of rare authentic spirits offered strictly straight or over ice, including a range of Cuban rums like 🇨🇺 La Progresiva, 🇨🇺 Eminente and 🇨🇺 Ferroni, as well as rums with a story, like the Tahitian 🇵🇫 Mana'o.

In other words, with a bit over 4 months to the main event, things are very well in motion. Exciting times!!

S.