[1] He was born in Kristiania as a son of Attorney General Annæus Johannes Schjødt (1857–1923) and Laura Marie Rømcke (1860–1893).
He was a junior solicitor in the law firm Bredal, Christiansen & Fougner from 1914, and lawyer from 1917 to 1920.
[3] During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, Schjødt and his wife joined the resistance organization 2A.
He had to flee to Sweden in the spring of 1942 and at the Norwegian legation in Stockholm he became leader of the refugee office.
In the autumn of 1943 the couple were ordered to move to London where the Norwegian government-in-exile was seated.