Geir Engebretsen is a Norwegian jurist and civil servant.

He was born in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, and graduated with the cand.jur. degree in 1978. He was a subdirector and head of department in the Ministry of Justice and the Police

Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police is a Norwegian government ministry in charge of justice, police and domestic intelligence. The main purpose of the Ministry is to provide for the maintenance and development of the basic guarantees of the rule of law...

 from 1985 to 1991, except for the years 1987 to 1989 when he worked in the county governor office. He was also acting County Governors of Oslo and Akershus, as Gunnar Alf Larsen

Gunnar Alf Larsen

Gunnar Alf Larsen was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party.He was born in Oslo.He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Oslo in 1965, and was re-elected on two occasions...

 left in 1988 and Kåre Willoch

Kåre Willoch

Kåre Isaachsen Willoch is a Norwegian politician from the Conservative Party. He served as Minister of Trade and Shipping in 1963 and 1965–1970, and as Prime Minister of Norway from 1981 to 1986...

 could not assume the position until 1989.

Engebretsen was then a judge in Asker og Bærum District Court

Asker and Bærum District Court

Asker and Bærum District Court is the district court serving Asker and Bærum in Norway. Cases may be appealed to Borgarting Court of Appeal. The court is located in Sandvika in Bærum. It has 13 professional judges, of which one is the chief judge, and 2 deputy judges. The administration has 20...

 from 1991 to 2001, district stipendiary magistrate of Nedre Romerike from 2001 to 2005 and district stipendiary magistrate of Oslo

Oslo District Court

Oslo District Court is the district court serving Oslo, Norway. Cases may be appealed to Borgarting Court of Appeal. As the largest district court in Norway, it handles about 20% of all cases in the country...

 from 2005. In February 2009 he became acting State Conciliator of Norway

State Conciliator of Norway

The State Conciliator of Norway is an arbitrator's office of Norway. It is invoked in labour disputes, in other words when tariff agreements are disagreed upon.It was established in 1915, and the first State Conciliator took office in 1916...

. due to Svein Longva

Svein Longva

Svein Longva was a Norwegian economist and civil servant.He was born in Oslo, but his family moved to Volda in 1950. After completing his secondary education there in 1962, he enrolled in political economy studies at the University of Oslo...

's illness. When Longva died in April 2009, he continued to hold the office. In August 2009 Kari Gjesteby

Kari Gjesteby

Kari Gjesteby is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She has never been a member of the Norwegian Parliament, but has been State Secretary for three tenures, as well as Minister of Trade and Shipping from February to October 1981 and Minister of Justice and the Police from 1990 to 1992...

was appointed to the position.