University of Rhode Island

This summer I received the opportunity to intern with attorney Kelly Mckenna-Cournoyer at her office in Providence, Rhode Island. Mrs. Cournoyer received her degree from Boston College and has been practicing law for over thirty years. I initially reached out to Mrs. Cournoyer in the fall of last year and we met for the first time in December. It seemed like a great fit and I was really excited to learn about her profession. We decided that I would intern with her one to two days per week over the summer. 
 

Mrs. Cournoyer allowed me to sit in on her appointments with her clients as long as they agreed to it. She works in social security disability law, which means that a lot of what she does is filling out paperwork with her clients and speaking with many different resources with the hopes of gaining more information about her client. By doing this, she is building a case for her clients which can then be used to earn benefits for them. I was quickly amazed at how Mrs. Cournoyer was able to help many people who found themselves in difficult situations. 

 

During the internship, I also received the opportunity to go to court with Mrs. Cournoyer and a few of her clients. I met different judges and watched how the entire process works. It was not a very long process because the only people in the courtroom were Mrs. Cournoyer, her client, the judge, a court reporter, and me. First, the judge would ask questions, then if there was more information, the client, also called the claimant, would provide a statement, then Mrs. Cournoyer would ask questions. Sometimes, the claimant would bring a witness and in this case the process would take longer because the judge would also have to ask them questions. 
 

I am so grateful for this experience for many reasons. I got to further explore my interest in law by going to court and meeting people that have worked in the field for many years and I learned a lot about a specific kind of law that I previously knew very little about. Overall, the most impactful thing about this internship was that I was able to watch someone make a positive difference in people's lives every day. I could not appreciate the experience that Mrs. Cournoyer provided for me more.