Michiel van Nispen

Biography

“I cannot stand injustice”

It is very important for politicians to have ideals. My goal is to help make the world a better place for everyone. When I studied law, I had several side jobs at law firms, but it didn’t take me long to realise that working there would not help me make the world a better place. A lawyer once told me: you’re like a fish out of water here. You should write a letter to Amnesty or the SP. I took his advice very literally, and applied with the SP a few weeks later.

Delving deep

In 2007, I started as a parliamentary group member for the SP, specialising in Justice. In the years that followed, I worked for my teacher Jan de Wit. We delved deep on many cases together, such as the bill to remove the ban on blasphemy. The legal part was relatively straightforward, as we only had to amend two articles, but the overall process was very time-consuming. There was a lot we had to figure out first, such as how to read a judgement from 1968. My experiences helped prepare me for my work as an MP.

Working visit

As an MP, I need to be fully up to date with all the letters the ministry sends to the House and the reality they reflect. In my opinion, that can only be done by talking to the people involved: the lawyers, the notaries and the litigants. When I was still a policy officer, I realised that ministries present highly biased information, couched in policy jargon. A single working visit to a prison tells you a lot more than dozens of inspection reports.

Education

• International and European public law Master's programme, 2006-2007
• International and European public law Master's programme, 2000 - 2004
• VWO (pre-university education), Nassau comprehensive school in Breda, 1994 - 2000

Career

• Justice policy officer for the Socialist Party (SP) parliamentary group in the House of Representatives, 2007 - 2014
• Employee at law firms, 2004 - 2007