About the Office of the Attorney General
The Office of the Attorney General is organised as a single central entity administratively subordinate to the Office of the Prime Minister. It is located in Oslo and is led by Attorney General Fredrik Sejersted, who is appointed by the King pursuant to the Instructions for the Office of the Attorney General. Marius Ovesen is Chief Operating Officer. In addition, four lawyers have been assigned managerial duties and make up the management group.
The Office of the Attorney General employs around 50 legal professionals (lawyers and trainee lawyers) and an administrative staff of 22.
The main duties of the Office are to conduct cases on behalf of the Norwegian state in civil lawsuits before national and international courts, and to issue legal opinions. Our clients are the central government bodies, i.e. the Government, the ministries and their subordinate agencies.
Former attorney generals
The Attorney General is an office established by Royal Decree of 28. March 1816. The duties assigned to the office were to conduct civil lawsuits for the State and to advise the Government and the public administration on legal issues. These duties remain unchanged today.
The assignment was originally given to a specific lawyer in private practice. It was not until 1962 that the office was organised as a public body with its own staff. In the last decades, the Office of the Attorney General has been organised as an agency under the Office of the Prime Minister.
It has gradually grown in size. The organisation currently comprises 50 lawyers and 22 administrative staff. The current Attorney General, in office since 2015, is the 20th in an unbroken line dating back more than 200 years.
Bredo Henrik von Munthe af Morgenstierne den eldre
1816–1820
Jonas Anton Hielm
1820–1825
Niels Aars
1822–1830
H. C. Petersen
1830–1837
Frederik Stang
1837–1839
Eskild Bruun
1839–1842
I. W. Skjelderup
1842–1859
Bernhard Dunker
1859–1870
Hans Christian Grønn
1870–1873
Christian Lasson
1873–1893
Johannes Bergh
1873–1893
Karl Lous
1904-1917
Annæus Schjødt
1917–1923
Kristen Johanssen
1924–1939
Valentin Voss
1939–1941
Henning Bødtker
1945–1962
Hans Methlie Michelsen
1962–1972
Bjørn Haug
1972–1993
Sven Ole Fagernæs
1993–2015
Fredrik Sejersted
2015–