=Jean-Francois Tossens CV

Jean-François Tossens has a long-standing combined experience in international business law, both in transactional and contentious matters, acting as counsel, litigator or arbitrator.

Jean-François Tossens has developed over the last 20 years an extensive and distinguished career in national and international arbitration, serving both as counsel and arbitrator. He regularly handles cases under various rules and ad hoc arbitration proceedings.

His experience spans a wide array of complex commercial, corporate, and financial disputes, including partnership and shareholders’ agreements, post-acquisition disputes, construction, distribution, and sports arbitration. His practice is notably significant in the financial and industrial sectors, covering (public) investment funds, private equity, aviation, insurance, energy, and biotechnology.

Jean-François is also a respected educator, teaching national and international arbitration law at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve (UCL). He has been President of the international arbitration association Francarbi since 2022 and serves on the board of directors of ICC Belgium. He contributes to the field through various publications and conferences in arbitration and business law and is a member of the editorial board of the Belgian Review of Arbitration, b-Arbitra.

His professional excellence is recognised in Chambers 2025 (Band 2 – Dispute Resolution Arbitration – Belgium), with sources commending his arbitration expertise in both domestic and cross-border commercial disputes. Jean-François is also listed in Who’s Who Legal (Arbitration) and the Leaders League Directory. He was honored as “Lawyer of the Year” for Arbitration and Mediation by Best Lawyers in Belgium 2023.

Experience

Sector Expertise

• Commercial Dispute Resolution
• Energy, Oil & Gas
• Mergers, Acquisitions, Shareholder & Partnership disputes
• Construction, Engineering & Infrastructure
• Finance and Insurance

Commercial Dispute Resolution

Jean-François has dealt frequently with matters relating specifically to public investment funds, distribution, private equity, aeronautics, biotechnology, sports, ….. He has a special expertise in aeronautics (including maintenance related issues, incidents, insurance and reinsurance, leases, distribution, handling, GSA contracts, …)

Energy, Oil & Gas

He has dealt with disputes relating to operational issues for major mines and milling operations for a variety of metals (gold, copper and iron ore) as well as exploration and development of oil and gas pipelines, as well as disputes relating to royalty, pricing and swap disputes. His energy experience includes new wind technology developments and operations and related power purchase agreements.

Mergers, Acquisitions, Shareholder & Partnership Disputes

Jean-François has been acting as counsel or arbitrator in disputes relating to breaches of shareholder agreements and memorandum of articles, breach of directors’ duties, breach of Joint Venture agreements, share valuations and buy-outs as well post M&A disputes.

Construction, Engineering & Infrastructure

His construction experience includes several arbitration proceedings dealing with defects, delay, cost overruns, liquidated damages, misrepresentation, negligence, payment default, breach of contract and termination, mainly in connection with construction sites in Africa.

Finance and Insurance

Jean-François has been acting as counsel or arbitrator in multiple cases involving the interpretation or implementation of insurance policies. He has in particular been counsel to the insurers of the Zaventem hangar fire of 2006, from 2006 to 2011.

Jean-François has also an extensive experience in finance matters. He has in particular been a member from 2019 to 2023 of the Fortis Settlement Dispute Committee deciding the recourse of the Fortis Shareholders against the Claims Administrator in the allocation of the 1,3 billion EUR compensation granted by the Fortis Settlement Agreement.

Selected Experience

Arbitrator

• Chairman of the Arbitral tribunal in ICC proceedings deciding a dispute between a Moroccan company and a Qatari company about the termination of a construction contract of a holiday resort in Morocco
• Sole arbitrator in CEPANI proceedings deciding a dispute between a Swiss company and a Hong Kong company about the manufacture and sale of infant food products for the Chinese market
• Arbitrator in a Chambre de Commerce du Luxembourg proceedings deciding a dispute between former partners in international real estate operations
• Arbitrator in CEPANI proceedings deciding a dispute between two leading entities of the steel industry about the maintenance of a factory in Belgium
• Arbitrator in CEPANI proceedings deciding a post-acquisition dispute in the food sector
• Sole arbitrator in ICC proceedings deciding a dispute between a French industrial actor and an African State entity about the construction and renovation of an industrial facility in West-Africa
• Chairman of the Arbitral tribunal in ad hoc proceedings deciding a dispute about the scope of an insurance policy covering the loss of receivables
• Chairman of the Arbitral tribunal in ad hoc proceedings deciding a claim for rescission of the sale of the shares of an industrial company for fraud
• Sole arbitrator in ICC proceedings deciding a contractual dispute between a service provider and the manufacturer and seller of a helicopter
• Chairman of the Arbitral tribunal in ICC proceedings opposing insurance companies to the manufacturer of an helicopter for the recovery of the damages resulting from its crash
• Chairman of the Arbitral tribunal in ICC proceedings opposing French industrial companies in a warranty claim about asbestos related diseases and their financial consequences
• Chairman of the Arbitral tribunal in a CEPANI sports arbitration deciding a claim of a football club against a decision of the Belgian football Federation
• Emergency Arbitrator in an ICC construction dispute opposing a Canadian group and an African State
• Arbitrator in DIAC proceedings deciding the claim of the lessor of an aircraft against the lessee for breach of the lease agreement
• Arbitrator in OHADA proceedings in a post-acquisition dispute
• Chairman of an ad hoc Arbitral tribunal deciding a claim of an insured against its insurance company for indemnification of a major loss in an industrial building resulting from a water leakage
• Chairman of the Arbitral tribunal in ICC proceedings deciding a claim in a construction dispute about a construction in Algeria

Third party binding advisor

• Member of the Fortis Settlement Dispute Committee from 2019 to 2023 (more than 150 cases)

Counsel / Representative matters

• Representing the Belgian football Union in Belgian TAS (Tribunal Arbitral du Sport) arbitration proceedings
• Representing a Belgian company active in the oil sector in CEPANI arbitration proceedings deciding a contractual dispute about the transfer of a plant
• Representing a leading Belgian company in the energy sector in various disputes, including ICC arbitration proceedings and national courts litigation, including the recovery of a damage caused to power plant facility and in a complex contractual dispute about wind turbines plants in Belgium
• Representing a British Company in ICC arbitration proceedings against an American Company about the execution of a data sharing contract in the biocides industry
• Representing a manager in Cepani arbitration proceedings in its claim against an international group active in the energy sector following the termination of the contract
• Representing a pool of insurance companies in all consequences (including civil and criminal court proceedings) of the fire of hangar 40 in Zaventem on May 2006 for which their client, the maintenance company, was deemed to be the main responsible person
• Representing a leading French insurance company in various losses in the aeronautical maintenance sector
• Representing a French group acting as General Sales and Services Agent in its dispute against an airline company for the early termination of an agency agreement
• Representing the Belgian Federal and Investment Holding Company in multiple investments, including investments in foreign Funds, an investment in Euronext and investments in various industrial sectors, in particular the biotech sector
• Representing the Belgian Federal and Investment Company in contentious matters related to current or former investments, in particular its investment in the former SABENA (Belgian Airlines Company)
• Representing a leading European industrial group in its dispute against a Belgian public entity in the implementation of a public procurement contract of software for managing an electricity distribution network
• Representing the Belgian Federal Investment Company in the structuring of several partnerships in the biotech sector

CV – SG – ENG (2023)

Sophie Goldman focuses on complex civil and commercial litigation, both in national and international settings, relating to, among others, partnership agreements, service contracts, distribution, directors’ liability and post-acquisition disputes in various sectors such as distribution of industrial products, energy, aeronautics, insurance, and construction.

A major part of her practice consists in national and international arbitration. She regularly acts as arbitrator or as counsel in ICC and CEPANI proceedings.

She has been ranked by “Who’s who legal : Arbitration” since 2021 after being ranked as “Future Leader” between 2018 and 2020.  She is also “highly recommended”  by Leaders League Intelligence Report & Directory Services as an arbitrator as well as in commercial litigation.

Sophie was admitted to the Brussels Bar in 2008. In September 2016, she co-founded the firm Tossens Goldman Gonne.

Sophie obtained a law degree from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in 2007 “Magna cum laude“. She also studied at the Universiteit van Amsterdam in 2007 with the Erasmus Exchange Program. She holds a LL.M. from the King’s College in London (2008).

She has been a teaching assistant at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in civil and commercial law for more than ten years. She has also been teaching “droit commercial international et résolution des conflits internationaux” at the Ichec Brussels management School for several years. She still teaches International Commercial Dispute Resolution at the Solvay Summer School.

She is the author of various publications and regularly speaks at conferences, in Belgium and abroad.

Sophie is very active within the CEPANI, the Belgian Center for Arbitration and Mediation. She is the Co-Chair of CEPANI40 since 2017 and she is part of the CEPANI Delegation at the at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. She also co-chairs the CEPANI working group on Diversity and Inclusion created in 2021.

Finally, she is a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR (Paris) and of ICC YAF, Young ICCA and ArbitralWomen.

2008 – Member of the Brussels Bar
2008 – Associate at Stibbe
2010 – Associate at Tossens & Prioux
2013 – Senior Associate at Strelia
2016 – Founding Partner at Tossens Goldman Gonne

Recent interventions (Acting as arbitrator)

• Sole arbitrator in CEPANI proceedings concerning a dispute between shareholders
• Chair of the arbitral tribunal in ICC proceedings opposing a French company active in cosmetics to its Spanish distributor about the termination of an exclusive distribution contract
• Co-arbitrator in ICC proceedings opposing an Indonesian company to a Dutch company about the execution of a contract with respect to the sale of molasses
• Co-arbitrator in CEPANI proceedings opposing a Belgian company to an Italian company in a commercial dispute in the food sector
• Sole arbitrator in CEPANI proceedings relating to the sale of the shares of a company and a business capital
• Sole arbitrator in ICC proceedings concerning a dispute between a French company and a German company in relation to a contract for international distribution of wood preservation products
• Sole arbitrator in CEPANI proceedings for a post-acquisition dispute on a branch of a Belgian bank

Representations (Acting as counsel – arbitral and judicial proceedings)

• Representing a Canadian company active in the production of PVC, in a dispute with a Belgian group, claiming indemnification following the termination of a concession contract binding the parties
• Representing a leading French company active in the air freight sector in proceedings against an airline for the recovery of severance payments related to an agency contract
• Representing a Belgian company active in the oil sector in a dispute against an international group on unfair commercial practices and violations of intellectual property rights (including an action for injunction and a descriptive seizure)
• Representing a leading French insurance company for its customers active in the aeronautical maintenance sector
• Representing a leading French group in the field of air cargo in ICC arbitration proceedings which concerned the dismissal of the manager of an affiliated company and the breach of a no-compete commitment

CV – RG – ENG (2020)

René Gonne‘s activity first developed in international litigation and arbitration until the hostile takeover bid on the Société Générale de Belgique, which he successfully assisted in its defence. His practice then evolved towards company law, issues related to acquisitions and restructurings, shareholder assistance, partnerships and complex contracts, including numerous public offerings.

René also gained extensive experience in financial regulation and advised buyers or sellers, target companies and shareholders in a wide range of situations.
He represents States – including non-European ones – and public shareholders, private or listed companies, as well as individuals, families or investors in structuring projects, agreements, investments and partnerships, or in industrial or financial restructurings within multiple sectors such as glass, steel and iron, holding companies, telecommunications, biotechnology and energy, as well as in related litigation cases.

Since 2002, René Gonne has been strongly recommended by Legal Expert EMEA and Legal 500 EMEA, in company law and restructuring. Then in 2012 by Chambers in restructuring and joint ventures. He was noted as having “in-depth experience of the energy industry”.

1979- Law degree – UCL – Magana cum laude – First in the year
1979 – Member of the Brussels Bar
1982-1986 – Assistant professor – Economic law department – UCL
1983 – Partner of the law firm Coppens Horsmans & Malherbe
1995 – Managing partner of the merged firm Coppens Van Ommeslaghe & Faurès
2000 – Managing Partner of the merged firm Coppens Van Ommeslaghe Faurès – Coudert Brothers LLP
2005 – Partner of the law firm Dechert LLP, then in 2011 managing partner of the Brussels office
2017 – Partner of the law firm Tossens Goldman Gonne

Recent Interventions

• Assisting the Government of Luxembourg in the hostile takeover bid of Mittal for Arcelor
• Assisting Elia (Electricity TSO) and Fluxys (Gas TSO) in implementing sectoral directives and managing their impact on shareholder structures
• Assisting one of the European energy leaders in pre-litigation and the renegotiation of very long-term gas exchange contract
• Counsel to a European start-up in the field of biotechnology, victim of breaches of exclusivity and confidentiality commitments
• Assisting a major European telecom operator on structuring shareholders agreements and the acquisition by a Belgian subsidiary, resulting in a takeover bid of a North African telecom operator – Assisting a Walloon public company regarding a construction dispute
• Counseling a family on partnership structuring of financial investments at European level, and coordination in several countries.

Lily has started her career at the Brussels Bar in September 2016 and joined Tossens Goldman Gonne in March 2019.

She obtained a Bachelor Degree from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (2013) and a Master Degree in International and European Law from the KU Leuven cum laude (2015). Lily also studied at the University of Edinburgh in the framework of the Erasmus Exchange Program in 2015.

Lily focuses on civil and commercial litigation, including arbitration, as counsel, administrative secretary to arbitral tribunals (ICC and CEPANI) and, since recently, as an arbitrator as well. She also has experience in data protection law and holds the CIPP/E certification (Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe) from the IAPP (2018).

Since 2020, Lily has also been an assistant-lecturer at the UMONS-ULB Law School in European Union Law and Economic and intellectual property law.

2016 – Member of the Brussels Bar

2016 – Associate at Van Bael & Bellis

2019 – Associate at Tossens Goldman Gonne

Anne-Marie Devrieze has been Jean-François Tossens’ personal assistant since 2007.

Before that, she was assistant at the S.F.P.I. (previously S.F.I.) as from 1982 to 2006.

Sara was admitted to the bar in September 2021 and joined Tossens Goldman Gonne in January 2024.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the Université Saint-Louis Bruxelles (2018) and a Master’s degree in Civil Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (2020), graduating cum laude. During her Master’s degree, Sara studied at the University of Ghent as part of the Erasmus Belgica exchange programme. She also completed an additional Master’s degree in European Law at the Université catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve (2021), graduating magna cum laude.

During her studies, Sara gained valuable experience as a legal intern in a food company. During her first two years at the bar within an Anglo-Saxon firm, Sara practised food law and developed a keen interest in the contractual aspects of the agri-food supply chain. This experience led her to specialise in civil and commercial litigation, including arbitration.

2021 – Admitted to the Brussels Bar

2021 – Associate at Bird & Bird

2024 – Associate at Tossens Goldman Gonne