Prof. Ferdinand Grapperhaus named Minister of Justice and Security
Prof. Grapperhaus, professor of (European) Labour Law at the Maastricht University Faculty of Law, has been named Minister of Justice and Security in the third successive Dutch cabinet led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Grapperhaus (1959) studied law in Amsterdam, where he obtained his PhD in 1995. Since 2005 he has been a professor in Maastricht. Students at the UM have learned a great deal from the many stories Grapperhaus shared with them from his work as a lawyer and chairman of the board at Allen & Overy in Amsterdam. All the students hung on his words, not only because of the interesting practical examples relating to (European) labour law, but certainly also because of his great sense of humor. Grapperhaus was also a member of the Social Economic Council (SER) for 10 years (until 2014).
A researcher in Dutch and European labour law, Grapperhaus has written two books in recent years in which he shares his great wealth of experience.
His first book is titled ‘Terug de polder in’ (2013), which translates as ‘Back into the polder’, the second, ‘Rafels aan de Rechtstaat’ (‘Fringes of the rule of law’), appeared this year (2017).
Prof. Hildegard Schneider, dean of the Faculty of Law: "Although his job at our faculty ends with this ministerial nomination, we are proud of this beautiful appointment and wish him a lot of success."

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