Judge Douglas S. Lavine is a native of White Plains, NY, where he attended public schools. He is a 1972 graduate of Colgate University, where he majored in history. After graduating from Colgate, he attended the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, earning a masters degree in journalism. He earned his law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1977 and an LL.M. from Columbia Law School in 1981.

He was a reporter and editor for various newspapers before entering into his legal career. He worked in the Litigation Department of the Hartford law firm of Shipman & Goodwin from 1981 to 1986 and served as an Assistant United States Attorney from 1986 to 1993. In 1993, Governor Lowell P. Weicker appointed him to be a Superior Court judge. He was reappointed by Governor John G. Rowland in 2001. In February of 2006, he was nominated by Governor M. Jodi Rell to a position on the Appellate Court where, following approval by the Legislature, he now sits. He has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut and Quinnipiac University Schools of Law. A resident of West Hartford, Judge Lavine is the author of two books on advocacy. His wife, Lucretia, is a social worker and his daughter, Julia, also a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law, is a practicing lawyer in Hartford.