White-Collar Crime

AG: Former bar president charged with UPL after 10 years in practice never attended law school

  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • Print.

A former partner at a Pennsylvania law firm who served at one point as president of her county bar association not only lacked a law license but never attended law school, according to the state attorney general.

Kimberly Kitchen, 45, represented over 30 clients in estate-planning matters at the offices of BMZ Law, and reportedly made partner during the decade she worked there. However, an investigation by the AG’s office determined that she forged her law license, her purported bar examination results and an email showing that she attended law school at Duquesne University, according to the Associated Press and the Progress.

Attorney Caroline Roberto represents Kitchen and noted that her client also is a past president of the Huntingdon County Bar Association.

“She’s an incredibly competent person and she worked very diligently and was devoted to the people she served in the community,” said Roberto.

Roberto declined to comment specifically on the criminal case against her client, the AP reported, but said, “There are things about the charges we don’t agree with so we’re going to be fighting some of the charges.”

Related coverage:

ABAJournal.com: “Was law firm duped? ‘Lawyer’ practiced there a decade and won partnership; was she licensed?”

Give us feedback, share a story tip or update, or report an error.