Berit Reiss-Andersen (born 11 July 1954) is a Norwegian lawyer, author and former politician for the

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party ( nb, Arbeiderpartiet; nn, Arbeidarpartiet; A/Ap; se, Bargiidbellodat), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party ( no, Det norske Arbeiderparti, DNA), is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centr ...

. She is chairman of the

Norwegian Nobel Committee The Norwegian Nobel Committee ( no, Den norske Nobelkomité) selects the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize each year on behalf of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's estate, based on instructions of Nobel's will. Five members are appointed by ...

, the 5-member committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize. She is also a board member of the

Nobel Foundation The Nobel Foundation ( sv, Nobelstiftelsen) is a private institution founded on 29 June 1900 to manage the finances and administration of the Nobel Prizes. The foundation is based on the last will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. It ...

, which has the overall responsibility for all the five Nobel Prizes. She served as state secretary for the Minister of Justice and Police from 1996 to 1997 and as president of the

Norwegian Bar Association The Norwegian Bar Association ( no, Den Norske Advokatforening) is an association of Norwegian lawyers. It was established in 1908 as , and assumed its current name from 1965. As of 2008 the association had about 7,000 members. Among its publicati ...

from 2008 to 2012. She has

co-authored Collaborative writing, or collabwriting is a method of group work that takes place in the workplace and in the classroom. Researchers expand the idea of collaborative writing beyond groups working together to complete a writing task. Collaboration ...

two crime novels with former Minister of Justice Anne Holt. She is currently a partner at DLA Piper's Oslo office.

Legal career

Reiss Andersen earned her Candidate of Jurisprudence degree (a 6-year law degree) in 1981 at the University of Oslo, Norway's preeminent university. She was an executive officer at the Norwegian Office of Immigration 1981–1982 and legal adviser at the Royal Ministry of Justice and the Police 1982–1984. She served as a prosecutor with the Oslo Police District 1984–1987. From 1987 to 2016 she had her own law practice in Oslo, and she obtained the right to appear before the Supreme Court of Norway in 1995. In 1997 she was appointed as one of the regular defence counsels at Oslo District Court and Borgarting Court of Appeal. In 2016 she became a partner at DLA Piper's Oslo office. She was president of the

from 2008 to 2012.Berit Reiss-Andersen
''

Store norske leksikon The ''Great Norwegian Encyclopedia'' ( no, Store Norske Leksikon, abbreviated ''SNL''), is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia. The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian published sites, with more than two million unique vis ...

'',

Kunnskapsforlaget Kunnskapsforlaget () is a Norwegian publishing company based in Oslo. Kunnskapsforlaget was established in 1975, as a partnership between H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard) and Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. The purpose was to co-operate on publishing e ...

Political career

She served as state secretary for the Minister of Justice and Police from 1996 to 1997, in the Labour Party government of Thorbjørn Jagland.

Nobel Prize roles

She was elected as a Member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee by the

Storting The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

(Parliament) on 22 November 2011, and was nominated by the Norwegian Labour Party. Her term started 1 January 2012 and ends 31 December 2017. On 20 February 2017 she became the acting chairman of the committee, following the death of Kaci Kullmann Five. On 2 May 2017, she was formally elected as the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. In this capacity Reiss-Andersen selects the Nobel Peace Prize laureate together with the four other committee members, and she is responsible for formally presenting the prize. From 2014 she is also a board member of the

, which has the overall responsibility for all the five Nobel Prizes. Reiss-Andersen has criticized Erna Solberg over her silence on Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Liu Xiaobo Liu Xiaobo (; 28 December 1955 – 13 July 2017) was a Chinese writer, literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who called for political reforms and was involved in campaigns to end communist one-par ...

when he was dying in prison in China and the Norwegian government refused to say whether it supported the European Union's demand that Liu be released; Reiss-Andersen described Solberg and her right-wing government's attitude as "embarrassing." On behalf of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Nobel Foundation, Reiss-Andersen wanted to participate in Liu Xiaobo's funeral, but was denied a visa by the Chinese government.Nobel leader denied a visa to China
" Views and News from Norway, 14 July 2014

Literary work

She has

two crime novels with former Minister of Justice Anne Holt.

Background

Her paternal grandfather was

Gunnar Reiss-Andersen Gunnar Reiss-Andersen (21 August 1896 – 29 July 1964) was a Norway, Norwegian Lyric poetry, lyric poet and writer. Biography He was born at Larvik in Vestfold, Norway. Reiss-Andersen went to sea at 17 years of age, sailing the Baltic Sea, Balt ...

, who wrote lyric poetry.

Bibliography

* 1997 ''Løvens gap'' (co-authored with Anne Holt) * 2000 ''Uten ekko'' (co-authored with Anne Holt)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reiss-Andersen, Berit 1954 births Living people 20th-century Norwegian lawyers Norwegian crime fiction writers Norwegian state secretaries Norwegian women lawyers Chairpersons of the Norwegian Nobel Committee 21st-century Norwegian lawyers