[5] After graduating law school, Adel served as a prosecutor with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office (2004 – 2011) in the vehicular crimes, gang and drug enforcement bureaus.
Other applicants who applied for the position included: Rachel Mitchell, Jon Eliason, Rodney Glassman, John Kaites, Gina Godbehere, Chris DeRose, and Lacy Cooper.
She remained hospitalized for two months at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, and underwent a second surgery in January 2021, but by February had returned to work.
[12] In August 2021, Adel checked herself into a rehab facility in California to work on problems that included stress, anxiety, an eating disorder and alcoholism.
[17] After her appointment, Adel reversed a county policy that had prevented gay couples from getting legal services for adoption required by state law.
[18] Adel fired controversial prosecutor Juan Martinez who was accused by multiple women of sexual harassment and faced investigations by the state bar for alleged prosecutorial misconduct in several death penalty cases.
[21] In October 2020, several Black Lives Matter protestors arrested in Phoenix were charged by the county attorney's office as gang members.
[25] A week later, Mass Liberation AZ, a criminal justice reform and activist group, launched a “Resign or Be Recalled" campaign.
[26][27] On February 15, 2022, five top prosecutors in the county attorney's office wrote a letter demanding that Adel step down, sending it to the board of supervisors and the state bar.