Carsten practices exclusively in civil litigation, with an emphasis on multi-party and commercial matters. Arbitration has become an increasingly large part of his practice, and Carsten has arbitration experience in matters involving contractual purchase price adjustments, environmental reclamation, shareholder disputes, intellectual property and international commercial agreements.

Carsten has served as arbitrator in both ad hoc and administered proceedings, including under the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, and under the ADRIC Rules. Carsten was a Bencher of the Law Society of Alberta from 2006 to 2013, and was President in 2013. As a Bencher he served as adjudicator on disciplinary panels in at least 25 matters, and he served as the Chair of disciplinary panels in at least 10 matters (all of which were followed with decisions written principally by him).

Carsten is a Fellow of the worldwide London UK-based Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Carsten is also a member of the Professional Conduct Committee of the Institute, which is concerned with the regulation and discipline of members.

Carsten has a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent peer review rating and Judge review rating in both Legal Ability and Ethical Standards and is peer-review recognized by several agencies including Benchmark Canada, Chambers Global, and Best Lawyers in Canada. Carsten has written and spoken on arbitration matters of interest to arbitrators and the bar.