Emily Dérogée-van Roosmalen was born on 28th March 1951. She graduated in 1974 from the University of Rotterdam. She has been employed in the Dutch Shipmortgage Bank (1975 – 1978), at Nauta Dutilh (ship financing and litigation, 1978 – 2001) as a maritime lawyer, at AKD (2001 – 2003), also as a maritime lawyer, and held the position of Director at the Dutch Legal Network for Shipping and Transport Foundation (2008 – June 2014). Also, she is a member of the Daily Board of the Dutch Maritime and Transport Law Association (NVZV), the Secretary of the Dorus Rijkers Foundation (support sea rescue), a member of the Board of the Schadee Foundation, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Law Students Association of the Erasmus University Rotterdam (JFR).