Before his appointment to the judicial branch, Anderson was in private practice as a partner in the law firm of LeVander, Gillen & Miller Law Offices in
South Saint Paul. He served as a
VISTA attorney from 1968 to 1969 and as a special Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division and Department of Public Safety of the Office of the
Minnesota Attorney General from 1970 to 1971. Governor Carlson appointed Anderson to the
Minnesota Court of Appeals as Chief Judge, beginning on September 1, 1992. Two years later, Carlson appointed Anderson to be an associate justice of the
Minnesota Supreme Court, beginning on July 1, 1994. Anderson retired on May 31, 2013, when he reached the statutorily mandatory retirement age for judges in Minnesota. ==Personal life==