PITTSBURGH >> A woman used forged documents to pretend to be a lawyer for a decade and was made a partner before her fraud was discovered late last year, according to charges filed by the state attorney general’s office.

Kimberly Kitchen, 45, of James Creek, was charged Thursday with forgery and unauthorized practice of law.

State prosecutors contend Kitchen fooled BMZ Law by forging a law license, bar exam results, an email showing she attended Duquesne University law school and a check for a state attorney registration fee. The firm is based in Huntingdon, about 110 miles east of Pittsburgh, but also has offices in Duncansville and Lewistown, according to its website.

Kitchen handled estate planning for more than 30 clients “despite never having attended law school, nor being admitted to the bar of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” the attorney general said in a statement.

Kitchen was, however, the past president of the Huntingdon County Bar Association, said her attorney, Caroline Roberto.

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

“There are things about the charges we don’t agree with so we’re going to be fighting some of the charges,” Roberto said, though she wouldn’t be specific.

But Christopher Wencker, the current president of the county bar association, said he doesn’t think the charges are severe enough.

“For a decade of that kind of behavior, those kind of charges are insufficient and don’t represent the depth or level of betrayal that was shown,” Wencker said.

The forgery charge is a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to five years in prison; the unauthorized practice charge is a third-degree misdemeanor, carrying up to a year in jail.

Wencker said the county bar plans to meet Tuesday to formulate a statement on behalf of the group.

A representative of the law firm didn’t immediately return a call seeing comment Friday. But in December, when the Huntingdon Daily News first reported on the case, the firm issued a statement saying they would be going through all her cases.

“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,” the statement said. “We are undertaking a thorough review of each and every file she may have handled.”

It wasn’t immediately clear where else Kitchen might have worked.

Roberto wouldn’t comment on whether any clients were harmed or complained about the services Kitchen rendered, except to repeat that Kitchen was “incredibly competent.” She said Kitchen, who is married with no children, is no longer working anywhere.

“Since December, when she was asked not to practice again, she’s just been waiting for this to be resolved,” Roberto said.