On Thursday, The Herald Business Journal will announce the 2016 recipient of the Emerging Leaders Award. Last week and this week, we are profiling 12 finalists, who were chosen by a panel of judges from among dozens of nominees.

The line blurs between work and community involvement.

Or that’s how Chris Adams sees it.

As a partner at Adams &Duncan law firm in Everett, he sees himself and his firm as being in a unique position to make a difference in the community.

“In our office, we don’t take that lightly,” Adams said. “One of the things that we really push is community involvement and making sure we take advantage of the opportunities we have to impact the community.”

At his firm, Adams and the other lawyers — six of the seven attorneys at the firm are under 40 — talk about what they can do from a legal perspective to help with the community whether it be with economic development, homelessness or other issues.

Adams has served both nonprofit boards and several commissions with the city of Everett. He’s a former board president of Sherwood Community Service helping people with disabilities, served on the board and executive committee for Providence Hospital and worked on the Everett YMCA board, chairing that nonprofit’s 2015 annual campaign.

Adams was a member of Everett’s planning commission and was chairman in 2013 and 2014. He’s also worked on the city’s salary and charter review commissions.

One of his proudest achievements was the work he did as co-chair for Everett’s Community Street Initiative Task Force.

That commission recommended embedding a social worker within police, expanding a program for people who frequently are in crisis and started work on expanding housing opportunities.

Adams, whose wife Megan is the leadership/Associated Student Body teacher at Kamiak High School, has also worked pro bono legal counsel for several nonprofits.

He said he enjoys being a part of something bigger than himself and being part of a community that has given him as much as he’s given.

He notes the county has a long history of dedicated people who raise money or give of their time to make a difference.

“Our community networks to a large degree through community work and that can be through committees of nonprofits, boards of nonprofits,” Adams said. “I think there’s a long legacy that exists in our community of trying to make the community better.”