Adams settles into new role as assistant county attorney

Some young professionals who take jobs in small towns right out of college struggle with the change of pace and the culture shock, but Kali Adams, the new Assistant Grundy County Attorney who grew up in Iowa Falls, isn’t one of them.
           
“Now, it’s just kind of back the swing of things, and it wasn’t too hard, really, to go from city to small town,” Adams said. “It wasn’t too bad once you get past the original shock of being back.”
           
Adams graduated from Drake University Law School in May, and as she admits, she took a while to settle on a career path. During her undergraduate years at Simpson College, she started in athletic training before changing her major to criminal justice but wasn’t sure she wanted to be a correctional officer. From there, law—and more specifically, prosecution—was a natural step.
           
After two semesters interning with the Polk County Attorney’s office, Adams spoke to Mike Holt, a partner at the Heronimus, Schmidt, Allen, Schroeder and Geer firm’s Iowa Falls office, and he recommended her to county attorney Erika Allen as a potential replacement for Emily Staudacher, who left earlier this year.
           
Allen, who will seek her second term in November, highlighted Adams’s internship in Polk County as a key prerequisite to her new job and feels she’s a perfect fit despite her young age.
           
“Her enthusiasm for prosecution is impressive, so that was a definite plus,” Allen said. “Her ties to the community, her understanding of what it’s like growing up in a small county and her preference for wanting to keep a close working relationship with area law enforcement jived really well with my theory of prosecution… We really feel that Kali was a gift that came to us at just the right time.” 
 
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