A’ education at the Eindhoven Lorentz Lyceum. After a short spell reading
Classics, he graduated at Leiden Law School in 1970 where he taught Private
International Law until 1978, the year he joined the Ministry of Justice.
In 1976 he defended his PhD thesis entitled Public Law Rules in the field of the
Conflict of Laws.


As a senior adviser for legislation in the Ministry of Justice, he was responsible
for miscellaneous Bills of Parliament primarily in the field of private
international and commercial law. He drafted the first text for a comprehensive
codification of Netherlands Private International Law, now Book X Civil Code.
Together with Prof. Albert-Jan van den Berg, he took the initiative for a
complete overhaul of Netherlands arbitration law. He co-authored the treatise
Private International Law in the Netherlands, with present Supreme Court
Justice Martijn Polak.


René joined Royal Dutch Shell in 1982. He served as dedicated counsel for
business units and expert counsel on dispute resolution, HSE and competition
law. He negotiated major M&A.

During his tenure as General Counsel of Billiton, then still part of the Shell Group, he dealt extensively with environmental agencies in the Netherlands. From 1996 onwards he was successively General Counsel

Chemicals, Gas and Coal, and General Counsel Oil Products at Shell
International in London.


In 2003, Van Rooij was appointed Chief Legal Officer & Company Secretary of
Royal KPN NV where he served until his retirement in 2014. A highlight was the
conclusion of the Compliance Charter between KPN and Dutch telecom
authority OPTA (now a branch of ACM). The Charter, the first regulatory
agreement of this kind world-wide, provides for structural self-notification of
infringements.

Van Rooij served on boards of a number of legal associations in the
Netherlands and abroad, i.a. member of the Netherlands Standing Commission
on Private International Law, board member of the American Arbitration
Association, Chairman of the Netherlands Association for Company Lawyers
and President of the Netherlands Arbitration Institute.


Since his retirement he has written six novels and a biography.