By Mark A. Easter

In September, at our annual RCBA Installation Dinner to honor our incoming RCBA president, officers, and board members, as well as the incoming Barristers president, officers and board members, I had the honor and privilege of presenting the Attorney of the Year Award to my good friend, Harlan Kistler. 

Harlan was very deserving of this award. But in my estimation, it is not because of a particular verdict he won, or settlement he achieved, or ground-breaking appellate decision he successfully argued. No, this was more about who Harlan is as a person and as a professional, and the example he sets for all of us in our legal community. 

I have known Harlan as a colleague for over 30 years now. And I have watched Harlan “grow” from a hard-working litigator, and tough as nails wrestler and wrestling coach (that other life of Harlan’s that is probably even more near and dear to him than his lawyer life), to a leader, mediator, and mentor. 

Harlan is a mentor of attorneys. And he mentors not only the attorneys in his office who work for him, but other attorneys in our community. Attorneys who need a referral. Or need an expert witness. Or are struggling with getting a case ready for trial. Or are trying to decide between mediating or trying a case. Or need input on how much a case is worth. Harlan is always available with helpful insight. 

Harlan has progressed from being a successful trial lawyer to also being a highly successful mediator. He sometimes settles five or six cases a week. And he mediates all types of cases. Harlan’s success as a mediator no doubt comes from the no-nonsense wisdom he has gained from his years of practice, and he applies his mentoring spirit to that experience. In settling cases, Harlan is effectively mentoring people on not only things like cost-benefit, risk, and the strengths and weaknesses of a case, but also the importance of time, family, certainty, physical and mental health, and the other things that are really important in life. I will add, on a personal note, that Harlan is also a mentor of mentors… advising others on how to get training and experience, and how to be an effective mediator. 

And of course, Harlan, as a wrestling coach, is a mentor of young people (when he started, it was just young men, but now Harlan also coaches young female wrestlers as well, as that sport has evolved). And year after year Harlan has succeeded in coaching wrestlers to perform at a State Championship level. But Harlan isn’t just an instructor of complex wrestling holds, moves, and techniques. Harlan mentors his young wrestlers on the value of hard work, dedication, fitness, nutrition, teamwork, and spiritual health. Harlan’s impact on his wrestlers is far-reaching and life changing, long after his wrestlers have stepped off the mat for the last time. 

But I have also observed that Harlan’s mentoring extends a step further. Indeed, Harlan is also a mentor of men—the fathers of his wrestlers as well as other men (some of whom are former clients). He develops long term relationships with these men, meets with them, fellowships with them, and mentors and shares his insight on how to be a better father, a better husband, and better boss or employee, and perhaps most importantly, how to have a deep and meaningful relationship with God. In fact, in the last two years he has taken a group of men on home-building mission trips to Mexico.

I am sure that after more than thirty years in this business, Harlan is very proud of his accomplishments as a lawyer and litigator. But I also know that Harlan is as equally proud (if not more-so) of how he has been able to serve the legal community, and the community at large, as a mentor all these years. I am proud of him as well, which is why it was with great joy that I was able to present him with the Attorney of the Year award this year. Congratulations, Harlan. Well done. 

Mark A. Easter is the immediate president of the RCBA, a partner at Best Best & Krieger LLC, and has been residing and practicing in Riverside since 1989

https://riversidecountybar.com/Documents/Magazine-2025/Riverside-Lawyer-Magazine-volume-75-11-December-2025.pdf