Recruiters spend, on average, only six seconds reviewing an individual resume. In the case of Kimberly Kitchen, maybe someone should have looked a little longer. Kitchen worked as an attorney in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, for ten years. There was just one problem: Kitchen was never actually licensed to practice law.
Kitchen lied about her background, claiming to have received a law degree, first in her class, from Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She claimed to have passed the bar exam and received her attorney license. She even claimed to have taught trust and taxation law at the Columbia University School of Law. Kitchen had documents to back her claims up – only all of those documents were fake. Kitchen never went to law school, never passed the bar exam, and was never a licensed attorney. There is no evidence that she ever taught trust and taxation law at law school.
Nonetheless, Kitchen was able to trick her employers, as well as her colleagues, for years. At the BMZ Law Firm, she made partner. She was even appointed the president of the Huntingdon County Bar Association.
Her elaborate hoax was discovered when, in 2014, another attorney was making a list of Huntingdon County Bar Association lawyers and noted that Kitchen’s bar number matched another attorney’s number. Bar numbers are not only used internally by state and local bar associations as identification but are also used on legal documents filed with the court.
When the lie was discovered, Kitchen was dismissed by the law firm and reported to the Attorney General’s Office for investigation. The Attorney General’s Office was not able to shed much light on how Kitchen maintained the fraud for so long. It’s been suggested that since Kitchen limited her practice to matters largely outside of the courtroom, including probate and inheritance tax matters, no one looked too hard at her bar number. The firm that made Kitchen partner said, “Sadly, it would appear that our firm was the last, in a long line of professionals, to have been deceived by Ms. Kitchen into believing she was licensed to practice law.”
Kitchen’s defense was that, despite not having a law license, she provided good legal work and kept her clients happy. Judges Fredric Ammerman, who presided over Kitchen’s bench trial, didn’t buy it: Kitchen was convicted in March 2016 on charges of unauthorized practice of law, forgery and felony records tampering. Judge Ammerman said, based on the evidence, the Attorney General’s Office could likely have filed more than 50 additional counts. This month, Judge Ammerman sentenced Kitchen to two to five years in prison.
Kitchen’s deceit isn’t just another story about a liar getting caught. Her behavior has caused a lot of folks to wonder how she could have tricked so many people for so long – and has raised questions about whether it could happen again. In other words, if Kitchen can fool other lawyers for that long, how can the public protect themselves against fraudsters? Before you hire a lawyer (tax or otherwise), do your homework. Asking the right questions can help ensure that you find a reputable, well-qualified lawyer. Here’s what you need to know:
1. You can confirm that a lawyer is licensed to practice by checking with the state bar. Lawyers are licensed. Licenses aren’t forever and are usually renewed each year. You can verify that a lawyer has a current license with the state bar with a phone call or click of a mouse in most states. If a lawyer is or has been subject to attorney discipline for misconduct, that information is typically also available online. If you’re not sure where to find your state bar information, try searching your state’s name + “attorney license.”
2. Not all law degrees are the same. A JD (Juris Doctor) is a law degree: having a JD means that you’ve graduated from law school but does not always mean you’ve passed the bar exam. To practice law, law school graduates are required to pass an exam, an ethics exam or course and take continuing education credits, in addition to passing character and fitness requirements.
In the U.S., an LL.M. (Master of Laws) is a second law degree in addition to a JD and tends to be focused in a specific area of the law like taxation or trial advocacy. Outside of the US, it’s possible to have an LL.M. (or LL.B.) without a JD.
An LL.B. (Bachelor of Laws) is typically the equivalent of an undergraduate degree in law and is no longer offered in the U.S. It is offered in other countries, like Canada (in some schools).
3. Ask questions about certifications. When you graduate from law school, you don’t typically have a specialty, but you may have a focus. That’s because, unlike undergrad, you don’t have to load up in one particular field to graduate. That said, some lawyers opt to take additional coursework to gain more knowledge in an area of the law. Sometimes, that results in a certification: you can typically check out these credentials online, as well as determine what the lawyer had to do to get them (i.e. take coursework, pass an exam, or simply pay a fee). However, don’t get too carried away when looking at the extras: not all states allow lawyers to “specialize” or hold themselves out as an expert in a particular field.
4. Beware of the alphabet soup. Every now and again, I’ll get a business card that has more letters following a name than those on a Welsh street sign. Don’t assume that more letters equal more education, more experience, or more results. Be sure to ask questions, not just about degrees (see #2) or certifications (#3) but about specialization programs and other credentials. They may be legitimate and mean that the lawyer has done additional work (for example, a CPA license) but don’t assume that’s the case. If you’re not sure what all of those extra letters mean, ask. For more on designations like CFP, CPA, and EA, click here.
5. Understand that no lawyer can do everything. Not every field of law requires that the lawyer has a laser focus: it is possible to successfully mix practice areas. However, I tend to be wary of lawyers who promise to patent your invention, handle your divorce, whittle down your tax obligation, and resolve your DUI in one fell swoop. The practice of law is vast, and no one knows everything. If you need a lawyer who is well-versed in a particular area, it’s a good idea to look for one with a high volume of cases in that particular practice area.
6. Don’t shop on price. Sometimes, lawyers are more expensive because they are highly experienced or have been successful in a particular area of the law. Sometimes, lawyers are more expensive simply because they charge more. Don’t assume that expensive attorneys are always better and don’t assume that cheaper attorneys are less qualified. Pricing can vary for all kinds of reasons including where you live, the complexity of the subject matter, and the lawyer’s back-end expenses.
7. Ask for referrals. Referrals might not have saved you from retaining Kimberly Kitchen, but referrals remain one of the best ways to find a good lawyer. Ask your friends, relatives, and colleagues who they use or who they know: even if they don’t know someone who can resolve your specific legal problem, they may pass along a lawyer who can make a great referral.