Ignace began his career after completing his law studies in Leuven (Lic. Jur.), Poitiers (Erasmus Programme), and Cambridge (LL.M.). He started at the Brussels Bar with the former Loeff Claeys Verbeke (now A&O Shearman), and later joined Schiltz Linden Grolig (which subsequently merged with Liedekerke) and Verhaegen Walravens. As an associate lawyer, he focused primarily on corporate law and, more broadly, business law.
In the early 2000s, he became the first—and for several years the only—in-house counsel at Virgin Express, the low-fares airline of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. He held this role during a turbulent period for the aviation sector, marked by the bankruptcies of CityBird and Sabena and the aftermath of 9/11.
In 2003, when the concept of legal interim management was still virtually unknown, he began working as a freelancer, taking on temporary assignments for both international and Belgian companies—family-owned businesses, mid-sized firms, and large listed companies—active in a wide range of sectors including hospitality, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, industry, fashion, and ICT. These assignments allowed him to work across many areas of law, including corporate and commercial law, litigation management, corporate governance, and compliance. He combined these engagements with ad hoc client work, reviewing contracts and providing miscellaneous legal advice. Between 2008 and 2009, he returned to the aviation sector as the part-time Secretary-General of the Belgian Air Transport Association.
Ignace joined Agio Legal at the end of 2025 to strengthen the Corporate, M&A and Finance team, as well as the Commercial and Economic Law team. In doing so, he returns to the bar to once again work on an ad hoc basis for a wide and diverse range of clients.
