ICC Belgium & VBO-FEB - The Cost of The Conflict

Strategies to prevent disputes and reduce costs

A lawyer’s invoice tells you the legal cost but It doesn’t tell you the cost of the conflict. What about the weeks your management team spent dealing with the dispute? The project that was put on hold? The client who never came back? Or the two employees who left in the meantime?

Those costs never appear in a single report. They are scattered across HR budgets, operational delays, lost business opportunities and financial results that fall just short of expectations.

On 23 November, we take a closer look at these hidden costs and how they can be reduced.
Business leaders, judges and legal experts will explore what a conflict really costs an organisation, which dispute resolution approach works best for different types of conflict, and – most importantly – how businesses can prevent these costs in the first place.

Because the real cost of conflict goes far beyond legal fees.

Programme

• 1:15 pm – 1:50 pm | Registration
• 1:50 pm – 2:00 pm | Welcome and introduction by Julie Deré, Secretary General of ICC Belgium
• 2:00 pm – 2:15 pm | Minister of Justice and North Sea, Annelies Verlinden
• 2:15 pm – 2:35 pm | The real bill
  One closed case, one final amount, one slide showing the breakdown: a cross sectoral overview.
  Dominique Valcke, CEO Stadsbader & Chair ADEB-VBA
• 2:35 pm – 3:15 pm | The overall cost of The Conflict (HR, Commercial, Operational)
  • 2:35 pm – 2:45 pm: Cyril Dumoulin (Senior Legal Counsel Upstream, Conventional Oil and Gas Shell)
  • 2:45 pm – 2:55 pm : dr. ir. Didier De Buyst (ie-net Society of Engineers, Country Representative for Belgium at the DRBF)
  • 2:55 pm – 3:05 pm: Testimonial representative Fedustria
  • 3:05 pm – 3:15 pm : Testimonial representative Essenscia
• 3:15 pm – 3:30 pm | Sylvie Frankignoul, Judge at the French-speaking Enterprise Court of Brussels and President of the Chamber for Amicable Settlement (CAS-CRA-KMS)
• 3:30 pm – 3:50 pm | Coffee break
• 3:50 pm – 4:30 pm | Which Conflict and Which way forward?
  Discussion of 3 or 5 conflict scenarios with the speakers (e.g. a labour dispute, a conflict between directors, possibly one contractual dispute within Europe and one international contractual dispute).
  Moderator: Marco Schoups, lawyer – mediator
  Panellists:
  • Dirk De Meulemeester, DMBD Law
  • Jacob Henriquez, FCIArb (Ploum)
  • Luc Imbrechts, Judge at the Brussels Enterprise Court, Dutch-speaking Division, Chamber for Amicable Settlement (CAS-CRA-KMS)
  • Testimonial representative Agoria
• 4:30 pm – 4:50 pm | Conflict Prevention as Part of the Corporate DNA
  Jef Feyaerts (Feyaerts Law) & Elke Van Overwaele (Executive Manager Law and Business VBO-FEB)
• 4:50 pm – 5:15 pm | Prevention and Amicable Dispute Resolution
  • 4:50 pm – 5:00 pm: Peter Callens, Past President of the OVB – ADR
  • 5:00 pm – 5:10 pm: Prof. Dr Alain Verbeke – ADR
  • 5:10 pm – 5:15 pm: Barbara Gayse, Head of Team & Legal Attaché Federal Mediation Commission on ADR Charter
• 5:20 pm – 5:50 pm | Testimonials: What Have We Learned and What Do We Do Differently Today?
  Moderator: Sofie Verlinden, Chief Legal Officer DEME GROUP
  Panellilsts: representatives Agoria, Embuild, Essescia & Fedustria
• 5:50 pm – 6:00 pm | Key Takeaways and Conclusion by Julie Deré, Secretary General of ICC Belgium
• 6:00 pm onwards | Reception

Practical

When?
Monday, 23 November 2026 from 1:15 pm to 6:00 pm

Where?
VBO-FEB
Rue Ravenstein 4
1000 Brussels

Language?
Dutch, French and English (no simultaneous interpretation)

Fee?
€115 excl. VAT (21 %)