Prior to working at the NYCLU, Engel was an Arthur Liman Public Interest fellow at the Bronx Defenders, where she provided direct representation to adolescents suffering the civil consequences -- such as loss of housing, suspension or expulsion from school, and loss of public benefits and employment -- of being charged as adults in criminal proceedings. Prior to law school, Engel worked as a civil rights researcher at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project, a journalist at the Community Newspaper Company, and a union organizer at the Service Employees International Union.