Lars Fause (born 20 February 1965) is a Norwegian

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

and civil servant serving as the

Governor of Svalbard The governor of Svalbard ( no, Sysselmesteren på 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 maint ...

since 2021.

Early life and education

Fause is originally from

Balsfjord Balsfjord ( sme, Báhccavuotna ; fkv, Paatsivuono) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Storsteinnes. Other villages include Mestervik, Mortenhals, and Nordkjo ...

, a municipality in

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English language, English), is a Counties of Norway, county in Northern Norway, northern Norway that was established ...

. 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 an ...

in 1991 with a

Master of Studies in Law A Master of Studies in Law (M.S.L.), also Master of Science of Law or Master of Legal Studies (M.L.S.) or Juris Master (J.M.) or Masters of Jurisprudence (M.J.) or Master in Law (M.L.), is a master's degree offered by some law schools to students ...

. Much of his family lives in

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

, where Fause resides when not in Svalbard.

Career

Following his graduation, Fause worked for the

Oslo Police District Oslo Police District ( Norwegian: ''Oslo politidistrikt'') is the largest police district in Norway. The Police District of Asker og Bærum and Oslo Police District are from January 1, 2016 merged into one, Police Districts Asker and Bærum and Os ...

as an assistant. He also worked for a year as a police lawyer for the

Troms Police District Troms Police District in Norway includes seventeen municipalities in Troms county with approximately 122,000 people and is headquartered in Tromsø. Troms Police Distrikt covers Troms county except Central Hålogaland.Trondenes District Court Trondenes District Court ( no, Trondenes tingrett) was a district court located in the town of Harstad in Troms county, Norway. The court served the southwestern part of the county which included the municipalities of Harstad, Kvæfjord, Skånla ...

as an assistant judge. Fause worked from 1996 to 2002 as a public prosecutor at the public prosecution offices of

, 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 interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

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 Jørn Holme (born 16 August 1959) is a Norwegian judge and civil servant. He grew up at Nordberg, and originally wanted to become a priest. He was active in the Norwegian Christian Student Association while studying. He graduated with the cand.j ...

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 n ...

, 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