After graduating high school at age 15, Kane received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Nicholls State University in 1973 and a Juris Doctor from Tulane University Law School in 1976.
Kane then served as deputy district attorney in Denver from 1980 to 1986.
She was a chief counsel of the Independent Regulatory Review Commission from 1991 to 1992.
She then served as Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 1998, under former Governor Tom Ridge.
On June 4, 1998, President Bill Clinton nominated Kane to a seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, which had been vacated by Edwin Michael Kosik.