Born in Summit, New Jersey, Gansler grew up in Chevy Chase in Montgomery County, Maryland[REF] and attended Chevy Chase Elementary School, and then Sidwell Friends School, a Quaker school in the Washington, D.C. area, for grades 6-12.
After working for a brief period as a real estate lawyer at a title company[REF] and at the law firms of Coburn & Schertler and Howrey & Simon, Gansler became an Assistant U.S. Attorney, serving from 1992 to 1998.