Balancing a love of the arts with a recognition of the practical, Anne graduated in l975 from the University of Wyoming with honors, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in French and a minor in theater. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she went on to attend the University of Denver College of Law, graduating in l979.

Anne is sometimes teased about being born to represent employers in worker's compensation matters. Her father, F. Burton Smith, Jr., was Chief Counsel for the State Compensation Insurance Fund (now Pinnacol) for many years. One of Anne's first jobs involved temporary work in the "typing pool" at the Fund, causing her supervisor there to encourage her to pursue some career which did not require typing. During law school, she worked as a secretary, a paralegal and then as a law clerk for the firm of Sheldon, Bayer, McLean and Glasman, gaining welcome experience in every aspect of an insurance defense firm. After her graduation, she was honored to join this firm in l980 as its fifth member and first female lawyer, becoming a proud shareholder in the firm in l983.

Since the mid-80's, Anne has devoted her practice to worker's compensation insurance defense. She regards the worker's compensation hearing as the last bastion of "trial by ambush" and enjoys the opportunity to frequently litigate interesting issues of compensability and medical impairment. She also enjoys appellate work and the challenge of presenting technical medical and legal issues in a way that makes sense to the appellate courts. Her work with large self-insured employers brings the opportunity to work with risk management issues, helping with policy development and employee training. She is a member of the Colorado Defense Lawyers Association, is past co-chair of the Worker's Compensation subcommittee of that organization and served on the Board of Professionals in Worker's Compensation (then Women in Worker's Compensation).