Learn Italian: Da avvocato, lei faceva molte domande. - As a lawyer, she asked many questions.

In Italian, to express 'in the role of', 'acting as', or 'during the life stage of', you use the preposition da without an article. So da avvocato means 'in her role as a lawyer'. You will see this a lot in phrases like da bambino (as a child). If you used come, it would sound more like a comparison, as if she were acting like a lawyer but was not actually one.

Why is the verb fare (to do/make) used for 'asked'? Shouldn't it be chiedere?

While chiedere does mean 'to ask', Italian uses the set expression fare una domanda to mean 'to ask a question' (literally, to make a question). So here, faceva molte domande translates naturally to 'asked many questions'.

Why is the verb faceva in the imperfect tense?

The imperfect tense is used for ongoing, habitual, or repeated actions in the past. Because asking many questions was a general characteristic of how she behaved in her role over time, the imperfect faceva is the perfect fit. If she had asked a specific set of questions at a singular event, we would use the passato prossimo (ha fatto).

Wait, isn't avvocato a masculine word? Does it change if lei (she) is a woman?