 He finished his secondary education at Ullern in 1969, and graduated from the University of Oslo with the cand.jur.degree in 1974, and gained access to work with Supreme Court cases in 1977.He was a fellow of maritime law at the University of Oslo from 1973 to 1975, and was awarded with a King Olav gold medal for co-writing the book "Borerigger i rettslig belysning".