Aiding and Abetting the Unauthorized Practice of Law — Conducting a Due Diligence Background Check for Incoming Lawyers and Lateral Hires -

The Case: Kimberly Kitchen began working at BMZ Law PC part-time in 2005. She started working full-time in January 2014 and was promoted to partner in April 2014. She handled estate planning matters for roughly 30 estates. Prior to beginning work as an attorney, she worked as a paralegal at Reed Smith LLP. According to Kitchen's resume, she taught estate planning classes at Columbia Law School. Kitchen had also previously served as the President of the Huntingdon County Bar Association.

After her promotion to partner, in winter 2014, a fellow lawyer noticed that Kitchen was using the bar number of another lawyer from Delaware. Shortly thereafter, BMZ Law received a court order prohibiting Kitchen from continuing to practice law. When Kitchen was asked for proof that she was an attorney, she provided an email confirming that she graduated from Duquesne University's law school as well as exam results showing that she passed the Pennsylvania bar exam in February 2005. She also provided a photograph of her purported attorney's license. However, Kitchen never went to law school, had not passed a bar exam, and was not licensed to practice law. According to the criminal complaint filed against Kitchen in March 2015, a review of her computer and cellphone showed that the documents she had provided were fictitious. In order to perpetuate the fraud for a decade, Kitchen had attempted to handle contentions matters outside the courtroom.