There is an interesting case out of Pennsylvania where a former partner at a Pennsylvania law firm and former county bar association president has been revealed as never having attended law school. Kimberly Kitchen, 45, allegedly forged her law license as well as her bar examination results and her attendance at Duquesne University. Kitchen is now facing criminal charges, though some have objected that she is being let off lightly.
Kitchen represented over 30 clients in estate-planning matters as part of BMZ law. Her attorney Caroline Roberto however insists that her client was “an incredibly competent person and she worked very diligently and was devoted to the people she served in the community.” Of course, she did so under the false pretense of having gone to law school and being an attorney. Roberto stated that “[t]here are things about the charges we don’t agree with so we’re going to be fighting some of the charges.” However, it is not clear what those things might be, assuming that the charges are true that Kitchen never went to law school and lied about their being an attorney for some ten years. The deception was reportedly quite intricate with even a forged email showing that she attended Duquesne and a check for a state attorney registration fee.
Prosecutors say that Kitchen was employed at Juniata College, where she worked in fundraising but “started holding herself out to be a lawyer.”
The forgery charge is a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to five years in prison when the unauthorized practice charge is a third-degree misdemeanor with a maximum of a year in jail.
Source: ABC
She should claim to be a trans-lawyer; like transgender, only with professions.
This is straight out of the TV show, “Suits!”
As a former Financial Planner, financial adviser, stock broker, insurance licensed and other associated licenses, I worked very closely with several attorney firms in finalizing the fine tuning the Estate plans and business succession plans of my clients. In my capacity, I was not allowed to nor am qualified to give “actual” legal advice so I coordinated with their attorney, CPA and other professionals to work out adequate plans. I can recognize when there is a need and make some recommendations on actions and one of those recommendations was a referral to a firm that I knew to be qualified and most importantly ethical. Many attorneys are qualified to do many things but estate planning requires a broad knowledge of not just some aspects of the law but investment expertise, in depth knowledge of accounting, IRS regs, insurance and a multitude of disciplines. No one person is capable of being an expert in all of those. To hold your self out as such is to lie to your clients.
I agree with rafflaw. Jail the woman.
In my career, I have come across some horrible con artist who even though they WERE licensed, operated in the worst way and did terrible harm to their clients. They were motivated by greed and took advantage of the trust the clients put in you and your profession. Trust mills with a team of an attorney and insurance license are the very very worst. All they want to do is to charge for an inadequate cookie cutter trust and slam the clients into annuities. They make a lot of money. The clients walk away thinking that they have taken care of their lifetime of work and protected their wealth. When they discover or need anything the shylock attorney and sleazy insurance agent have moved on. Terrible.
It isn’t about protecting your own. It is about protecting the profession that you love and take pride in. They gave, and still do give the profession a bad name.
Hang ’em high!
My human pal went to a doctor who moved here from Florida who really was not a licensed doctor. He just showed up with some paperwork and hung a shingle. Then he got involved in Christian Mingle. One thing led to another and he proved to not be a Christian and only a phony trying to mingle. The woman he mingled with looked in his file drawers and discovered the deceptions: First, that he was not a doctor but an undertaker; Second, that he was not a Christian but a Muslim in sheep’s clothing. Her manner of reporting him was creative. She poked a hole in all his rubbers and he knocked up two of his minglers and one of his patients. The patient wanted to marry him but he said he could not get married in the Catholic Church. Then the patient talked to Christian Mingle woman about the deceptions. Another patient got wind of it and went to his office and stole all of his medications. The so called doctor reported the theft and then the cops somehow learned he was not a doctor after all. But they did not prosecute him and let him off with time off for bad behavior. So he went back to Florida. The local pharmacy lost a lot of business selling Oxycotton. Wish cotton was a monkey.
i heard that, besides estate planning, this phony attorney also claimed to be an expert in both criminal law and negligence law. who is surprised at that?
How is the recent SCOTUS decision going to affect the many state bar associations that are made up entirely of attorneys? They make up their own rules and the state stands behind them with the threat of jail?
happy
OK, we have a reference to Christianity/religion, do I hear an Obama?
Issac
Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. ~Soren Kierkegaard
Imagine being of a lawyer’s temperament in a cloistered room with nothing but your own mind to keep you company lolololololol Seriously!!!!!!
No-bama 😉
She made her mistake by being in PA and not California where committing an on going crime is no bar to being at the BAR. They recently admitted an illegal to practice law who is here illegally, is not a citizen, has no legal right to be here, but who cares? So what if she had no college or law degree? She is simply just trying to improve her lot in life and did nothing wrong. other than do a good job and worked hard.
Letting someone advise others on their estate planning or any other area of law without some sort of external review or standard of minimum qualifications for doing so is unfair to the persons putting their trust in that advisor. If Ms. Kitchen felt she was truly competent to do this work, why did she intentionally lie about her qualifications? What recourse would anyone who received incorrect advise from her have in the event they suffered a financial reverse as a result of acting on her advise? Did she charge for her work as thought she was an attorney? There are many other ways she could have helped with estate planning by obtaining a securities license and working with a bank or investment firm legally, but apparently she had a personal desire to claim qualifications she could not be bothered to earn and possibily could never achieve. Perhaps she will decide to claim to be a surgeon next; which of you will let her operate on you? Or maybe she will want to drive an 18-wheeler loaded with dangerous chemicals through your neighborhood without proper training and obtaining a commerical license to do so? Where is the accountability when someone intentionally chooses not to abide by legally imposed restrictions put in place for the protection of the general public?
Does this story tell us something about the profession, what it takes to be a lawyer? I recently read Prof. Lefler’s “One Life in the Law”. In one way I was impressed, and in another way I was not. Are lawyers over-rated?
Could there be anything worse for a woman than quiet time in Jail lolol – that has been playing attorney ahahahahaha 😉
Well…. just goes to show credentials aren’t everything, and hard work and ability still count for something.
If you think about it, it’s an inspiring story.
Squeeky – the Lifetime movie will be on next week. 🙂
I think they should admit her to the state bar. She has all the qualifications. When I first moved to Arizona you could ‘read for the Bar.’ Now you have to pay for an accredited law school then pass the Bar exam.
Squeeky
I do too. something for us to all to aspire to in our secret criminal fantasies
happy, Attorneys protect their own like mama bears. But, this woman had the temerity to pretend to be an attorney. So, they want her drawn and quartered. It is both funny and edifying, isn’t it.
Nick Spinelli
I totally get it. As a Christian I do. I doubt if rafflaw is even conscious of it. 🙂
I think they should make a movie about her.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
rafflaw
Wow rafflaw, just Wow, that is tough for you. lol
This woman needs to treated to a few years of alone time in the state prison system.
I had a couple different clients who were elected presidents of their county and state bar associations. Both were real schmoozer, BSers. That’s what got this woman through w/ flying colors. Con men/women have big balls and little conscience.