Dirk Middelschulte

VP Global General Counsel Competition Unilever

Dirk Middelschulte is Global Chief Counsel Competition at Unilever, based in Brussels. He started his career in private practice before joining Deutsche Bahn AG at its headquarters in Berlin in 2006 as in-house counsel for IP, regulatory and competition law and led the group's antitrust advice & compliance team from 2010 onwards. Dirk moved to Danone in Paris in 2015 as Global Compliance Director, prior to joining Unilever in 2017.

Since 2019, he is a non-governmental advisor to the European Commission in the International Competition Network of competition law enforcers.

Day 1: 5 October 2026

2:05 PM PANEL DISCUSSION: FROM DISSONANCE TO HARMONY ACRPSS JURISDICTIONS - MAKING DEFENSIBLE DECISIONS WHERE REGULATIONS COLLIDE

Senior legal and compliance leaders increasingly operate in environments where regulatory regimes overlap, diverge (collude) or directly conflict. In these circumstances, the challenge is not choosing between compliance and commercial reality, but determining how to reach decisions that are principled, well-governed and capable of withstanding scrutiny long after the fact. Drawing on practical cross-border experience, organisations can move beyond rigid rule application towards structured, documented judgement that enables the business to operate while maintaining legal and ethical integrity.

- Identify genuine regulatory tension to assess what is non-negotiable vs judgement based, and make defensible decisions

- Design governance frameworks for decision-making under ambiguity

- Ensuring escalation, documentation, and accountability are proportionate to risk

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Dirk.

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