Ann McLane Kuster has been actively involved in government relations and community affairs since joining the firm in 1986.  Ann founded the firm's Health Care Practice Group and served as Director of the firm's Education and Non-Profit Law Practice Group.  Ann focused her legal practice primarily on education, non-profit, finance and health policy for clients such as Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Medical School, Fidelity Investments, New Hampshire College and University Council, New Hampshire Independent Schools and Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center.

In 2010, Ann won the Democratic Primary for the N.H. Second District race for U.S. Congress with 72% of the vote.  She narrowly lost the General Election by 3500 votes to Congressman Charlie Bass.

In January 2011, Ann founded Newfound Strategies LLC, a consulting and training practice that works with nonprofit clients to maximize their effectiveness and sustainability through fundraising, outreach and strategic planning.  Newfound Strategies will consult with nonprofit clients in NH and beyond, with a focus on capacity building, including strategic planning, fundraising and new media to merge resource development with outreach at the grass roots level.

Ann has over 25 years of community service for a wide range of New Hampshire non-profits, including serving as Chair and member of the Board of the Capitol Center for the Arts, as a Founder and Vice Chair of the Women's Fund of New Hampshire and as a member of the Boards of the N.H. Charitable Foundation, New Hampshire Public Radio, Child and Family Services of NH, the Alumni Council and Tucker Foundation at Dartmouth College and Womankind Counseling Center.  Ann has raised funds for capital campaigns for the Capitol Center for the Arts and NH Public Radio, as well as Camp Spaulding, a summer camp for children in need, the Concord Regional VNA Hospice House and as Chair of the successful 1996 United Way of Merrimack County campaign. 

In recent years, Ann has been actively involved in a number of significant health and education policy issues, including the creation of the N.H. Medication Bridge Program and the N.H. UNIQUE College Savings Program.  In addition, Ann has been a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys and she maintained a private adoption practice for 25 years.

Prior to joining the firm in 1986, Ann practiced law with the McLane law firm in Manchester, N.H.  A legislative assistant to former Congressman Pete McCloskey of California, Ann has been active in numerous political campaigns, including the bid of her father, Executive Councilor Malcolm McLane, for governor in 1972, and that of her mother, State Senator Susan McLane, for Congress in 1980.  She served on the statewide steering committee for Barack Obama for President in 2007-2008 and John Kerry for President in 2003-2004.  Ann was a member of the 2004 N.H. Delegation to the Democratic Convention in Boston and was a 2008 Obama delegate in Denver.