[4] On September 22, 1969, President Richard Nixon nominated Adams to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that had been vacated by the decision by Judge Harry Ellis Kalodner to take senior status.

[6] He was also mentioned as a potential Supreme Court nominee in 1987 for the seat vacated by Lewis Powell, for which Robert Bork, Douglas Ginsburg, and Anthony Kennedy were eventually nominated.

He also served as the Chapter 11 Trustee in the successful reorganization of the Coram Healthcare Corporation in the Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

[8] From 1998 to 2002, Adams served as independent counsel in an investigation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that uncovered widespread corruption.

Adams was a member of the Board of the Pennsylvania, and had previously served as a member of the board and Chairman of the Einstein Healthcare Network, trustee for the William Penn Foundation, the National Constitution Center, and Bryn Mawr College and President of the congregation for Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel.