Lars Fause (born 20 February 1965) is a Norwegian

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

and

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

serving as the

governor of Svalbard The governor of Svalbard () represents the Norwegian government in exercising its sovereignty over the Svalbard archipelago (Spitsbergen). The position reports to the Norwegian Ministry of Justice, but it maintains all Norwegian interests in ...

since 2021.

Early life and education

Fause is originally from

Balsfjord Municipality Balsfjord ( - ; ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Storsteinnes. Other notable villages include Mestervik, Mortenhals ...

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

county. Fause graduated from the

University of Tromsø The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway ( Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet''; Northern Sami: ''Romssa universitehta – Norgga árktalaš universitehta'') is a state university in Norway a ...

in 1991 with a

Master of Studies in Law A Master of Studies in Law (MSL) is a master's degree offered by some law schools to students who wish to study the law but do not want to become lawyers. Master of Studies in Law programs typically last one academic year and put students through ...

. Much of his family lives in

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

, where Fause resides when not in Svalbard.

Career

Following his graduation, Fause worked for the Oslo Police District as an assistant. He also worked for a year as a police lawyer for the Troms Police District, and for the following two years at the Trondenes District Court as an assistant judge. Fause worked from 1996 to 2002 as a public prosecutor at the public prosecution offices of

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; ; ; ) was a county in northern Norway that existed from 2020 to 2023. The county was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform. It was the largest county by area in Norway, encompassing about , and w ...

, and he received a promotion to the position of chief prosecutor in 2003. In 2008, Fause accepted a position as deputy governor of Svalbard, which he held until 2011. He made headlines in October 2008 for becoming the first person to deny a person residence in Svalbard: a 28-year-old man who was said to be behind "many crimes". After leaving office, he returned to his former position as chief prosecutor in Troms og Finnmark. He held this position in his second stint from 2011 to 2020, when he resigned to avoid a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

with his spouse. Fause took office as governor on 24 June 2021, following the departure of term-limited Governor Kjerstin Askholt. He was selected over several other applicants, including judges Jørn Holme and Cecilie Østensen Berglund. He is limited to a maximum of two terms of three years each, according to the

Svalbard Treaty The Svalbard Treaty (originally the Spitsbergen Treaty) recognises the sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, at the time called Spitsbergen. The exercise of sovereignty is, however, subject to certain stipulations, and no ...

, upon which point he would not be eligible for a third term. Fause is the first governor of Svalbard to have the gender-neutral title instead of the traditional masculine title ; both words translate to English as 'governor', but the change was required as part of Norway's effort to replace gendered governmental titles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fause, Lars 1965 births Living people Governors of Svalbard Norwegian civil servants 20th-century Norwegian politicians 21st-century Norwegian politicians Norwegian prosecutors People from Balsfjord University of Tromsø alumni