Ferdinand Grapperhaus


Ferdinand Bernhard Joseph Grapperhaus is a Dutch politician serving as Minister of Justice and Security in the Third Rutte cabinet since 26 October 2017. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Appeal.

Family and education

Grapperhaus was born in Amsterdam. He is eldest son of, who served as State Secretary for Finance from 1967 to 1971. Grapperhaus went to the secondary school Aloysius College in The Hague in between 1971 and 1977. He studied Dutch law at the University of Amsterdam where he obtained an LLM degree in constitutional law in 1984. In 1995, Grapperhaus was awarded a PhD degree in labour law under the supervision of Paul F. van der Heijden.

Career

Professional life

A jurist by occupation, he worked as a lawyer for the law firm Schut & Grosheide from 1984 until 1998 when he became a partner at the law firm Loeff Claeys Verbeke until 1999 when he became a partner at the law firm Allen & Overy branch in Amsterdam, he served as managing partner for the Amsterdam branch from 1 February 2015 until 1 September 2017. Grapperhaus became a professor of labour law at the Maastricht University on 1 January 2005.

Politics

He served as a member of the Social and Economic Council 1 April 2006 until 22 May 2015. Following the election of 2017 Grapperhaus was asked to become Minister of Justice and Security in the Third Rutte cabinet. Grapperhaus accepted and resigned as a professor the same day he took office as the new Minister of Justice and Security on 26 October 2017. During his tenure, the name of his ministry was changed from "Ministry of Security and Justice" to "Ministry of Justice and Security", a move costing €2,000,000.