Catherine Cornell's passion for helping the disabled started in college during an internship at CNN in Washington D.C. when she did research and field work for a series of stories about homeless veterans.  After getting her master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, Catherine worked in television broadcasting for several years.  Catherine then left the world of TV journalism to pursue a career in law at the University of Indiana in Bloomington.  During law school, Catherine clerked for a juvenile court judge, worked for a plaintiff's civil rights law firm, and volunteered at the local law clinic representing people in family law matters.

After law school, Catherine worked as a litigator at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago for more than five years.  At LAF Catherine handled a variety of cases in administrative, circuit, and federal courts including family law, unemployment, social security, discrimination, subsidized housing, and evictions.  She conducted several trainings to tenant's organizations, informing them of their legal rights. 

After LAF, Catherine worked as a staff attorney at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law in Chicago.  At the Shriver Center, Catherine helped edit the Center's national law journal, The Clearinghouse Review. She also moderated readers' calls with advocates from across the country and kept track of national trends in poverty law in order to solicit new article ideas and authors. 

Catherine comes from a medical family her two oldest sisters and father are all doctors and her mother is a retired nurse.  In her free time, Catherine likes to spend time with her family, watch movies, and walk her dog, Daisy.