Adil Ismayilov started his career in 1978 in a local prosecutor's offices. He worked as a chief investigator in the Sumgayit City Prosecutor's Office, and then in 1983 as an investigator on important cases in the Prosecutor General's Office. After the August Coup, in September 1991, at his own request, he left the prosecutor's office and began working as a private lawyer, believing that the following events will result in Azerbaijan's independence and a democratic society will be built in the country. Desiring to change the system, he criticized the situation in the Soviet prosecutor's office and the shortcomings in the system via "Azadliq", an anti-Soviet newspaper. At that time, Ismayilov was in contact with the opposition Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, and met with the chairman of the party, Abulfaz Elchibey several times, who would later become Azerbaijan's president. In 1995, he founded the law firm "ADISAD".