[1] Justice Kistler graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1981.

On completing his clerkships, Kistler went into private practice as a litigation associate for Stoel Rives LLP in Portland, Oregon from 1983 to 1987.

[2] On August 15, 2003, he was appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court to replace Susan M. Leeson who had resigned.

[3] Appointed by governor Ted Kulongoski, he won election to a full six-year term in 2004, winning 60 percent of the vote.

He is a former member and vice-chair of the Oregon Board of Bar Examiners and a former member of the National Association of Attorneys General Working Groups on criminal law, federalism, and free speech; he served as chair of the working group on free speech.