My name is Nicole Palmieri and I am an American Studies Major, graduating in Spring 2021, from Sandy Hook, CT. I am interning at the Division of Public Defender Services which is located within the Fairfield Judicial District Superior Court in Bridgeport, CT. Because I live in Connecticut and knew I wanted to save money by either living at home or with a relative and interning somewhere nearby, I had very specific geographical locations where I was looking for internships.  I’ve wanted to be a lawyer since I was twelve years old, so I was hoping for some sort of legal internship, preferably in a law field I was interested in so that I could begin to get an idea of what type of law I wanted to practice. I did some online searching and found the Connecticut Office of Public Defender Services’ website and a link to an intern application for the summer. I am a firm believer in the idea that everyone deserves a fair trial and a decent lawyer is essential to that, so I was interested in the work public defenders do. I decided I wanted to apply for the internship, so I went to the CCP to take a look over my resume to make sure everything looked good and to help edit a small essay on why I wanted to intern for the Division of Public Defender Services, which was part of the application.

I have been having an amazing time as an intern for the Division of Public Defender Services. The other workers are all incredibly friendly and it has been an eye-opening experience for me as to how our criminal justice system needs reform and a little more compassion and humanity. I have learned how very human everyone involved in the process is and how greatly even the smallest actions can affect a multitude of people’s lives. On a less abstract note, I have learned that your phone can track your location even without location services turned on based on cell towers and the signal from your phone bouncing off them.