Lane's documented formative years centered on higher education. He studied at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, a public university founded in 1817, where he completed his undergraduate degree in 1984 with high honors and highest distinction.
He then went to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to study at Harvard Law School, and his subsequent legal career was based in Boston.
Lane received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan in 1984, graduating with high honors and highest distinction and membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Founded in 1817, the university is one of the older public universities in the United States.
He then studied at Harvard Law School, receiving a Juris Doctor cum laude in 1987. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States, and its J.D. program provides professional legal training over three years.
Lane was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1987, qualifying him to practice law in the state where most of his later career was located.
Lane began his legal career as a judicial clerk for Judge John R. Gibson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, a one-year clerkship after law school. The Eighth Circuit hears federal appeals from courts in several Midwestern and Plains states, including Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
He then entered private practice. His experience included work as a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, a large international law firm headquartered in Miami, Florida, and as a litigation partner at Pepper Hamilton LLP, a firm whose origins lie in Philadelphia in 1890. He was also a partner and chair of the litigation department at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault in Boston. He also worked as a partner of S. E. Giorno.
Lane later became a partner in the litigation department of Foley & Lardner's Boston office and chaired the Boston Litigation Department. Foley & Lardner was founded in 1842 as Finch & Lynde in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and adopted its current name in 1969 as it expanded into a national firm. His practice focused on securities litigation, corporate governance disputes, and related risk management advice, including internal corporate investigations, for venture capital and private equity firms and their portfolio companies.
In May 2020 he joined Holland & Knight as a partner in the firm's Boston office, together with the trial lawyer Courtney Worcester, with a focus on representing venture capital firms and technology-focused companies. Holland & Knight was formed in 1968 through the merger of two Florida practices, and it opened a Boston office during its expansion in 1998. He later retired from the firm, with his tenure ending in December 2024.
Lane is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest academic honor society in the United States, founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary to recognize excellence in the liberal arts and sciences.
