Following initial legal training and obtaining LLB from Sydney University in 1968, the Hon Michael F. Adams was admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales, Australia in 1969.

After working in Papua New Guinea for 5 years, he returned to Australia in 1975 until went to the Bar in Sydney in 1979. He practiced mainly in crime and common law litigation in the District and Supreme Courts, and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1988.

Mr Adams was appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1998 and retired in 2017 to become the first Chief Commissioner of the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC). During this time Mr Adams worked as a Judge in the UN Disputes Tribunal for a year and for 5 years part-time as a Judge on the Court of Appeal of the Solomon Islands.