[6] Lautenschlager was a Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude graduate of Lake Forest College, in 1977, majoring in history and mathematics.

[8] Lautenschlager was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Wisconsin State Senate in November 1984, because she didn't pursue charges against Manitowoc Sheriffs office, losing the race to incumbent Scott McCallum.

Lautenschlager simultaneously served on the Wisconsin State Elections Board, the Governor's Council on Domestic Abuse, the Democratic National Committee, and the Oshkosh Rape Crisis Center.

She chaired the Assembly Select Committee on Drug Enforcement, Education, and Treatment and Subcommittee on Corrections Systems Concerns.

[10] In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Lautenschlager the United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, a position for which she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and held until April 2001.

[11][12] She was elected in 2002 as a Democrat to the office of Attorney General, succeeding Jim Doyle who successfully ran for governor.

During this period she was a practicing lawyer and a part-time politics professor at Ripon College, in addition to serving as Chair of the Wisconsin Ethics Commission.

[15][18] In 2006, Lautenschlager faced a Democratic primary challenge from Dane County executive Kathleen Falk, a 2002 candidate for Governor and former Assistant Attorney General.