NORWAY | Supreme Court Judge elected as new Ombudsman

In 2014 the Norwegian Parliament elected Supreme Court Judge Aage Thor Falkanger as ombudsman for the current parliamentary term (4 years). Flakanger is the fifth ombudsman to be appointed since 1962; he succeeds former Parliamentary Ombudsman Arne Fliflet who left office mid-June 2014.

Aage Thor Falkanger was born in 1965 in Oslo. He graduated in law in 1991, after which he worked as an assistant lawyer at the office of the Attorney General. From 1992 he was a judge in Nord-Troms District Court. In 1999 he became a Doctor of Jurisprudence after having been a research fellow at the Faculty of Law of the University of Tromsø from 1995.

He was a judge at Hålogaland Court of Appeal from 1999 to 2007 and Professor at the University of Tromsø from 2007 to 2010. He served as an acting judge of the Supreme Court from April to July 2007 and from February to July 2009. He was also a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University in 2007-08. Falkanger has been a Supreme Court Judge since 2010.

Aage Thor Falkanger is the fifth ombudsman to be appointed since Supreme Court Judge Andreas Schei became the first ombudsman in December 1962.

From the press release when Falkanger began his term of office on 16 June 2014: "... he wishes to continue and further develop the ombudsman's key position in society. The expertise and social insight of the staff at the ombudsman's office is and will be the cornerstone of its activities. In addition to maintaining this high level of competence at the ombudsman's office, the new ombudsman will seek to further enhance public awareness of the institution. One key objective is that people with legitimate complaints should realise that they can complain to the ombudsman. The complaints should also be dealt with reasonably quickly. With this in mind, the ombudsman must decide on the resources for each individual case. When giving priority, the ombudsman will weight the seriousness of the matter for the individual complainant and in addition whether a more general problem is revealed through the complaint or otherwise.”

Source: Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Norway