Utah bar 'horrified' over email blast sent with photo of topless woman
Updated: Utah State Bar officials are “horrified” after sending out an email blast on Monday that included a photo of a topless woman, according to the bar’s communications director.
The message, sent to all active Utah lawyers, was intended to promote the bar’s spring convention, report the Salt Lake Tribune, the Deseret News and Above the Law, which posted the email and the nude photo (not safe for work) here. The email also included photos of a clothed Lady Justice statue and a rock formation.
The bar followed with an email about 20 minutes later from the bar’s IT director that said: “Apparently we have an email sent that has an offensive image on it. I deeply apologize for this and am investigating the cause.”
Communications director Matt Page told the Tribune he created the email message but did not add the image of a topless woman.
He told the Deseret News that the bar wants to “get to the bottom of what happened and ensure that it never happens again.”
“We are aware of it and we are horrified,” Page said.
The bar looked into a couple scenarios, Page told the Deseret News. One is that the bar is hacked. Another is that an employee either accidentally or intentionally added the photo to the email.
On Friday, the Utah Bar issued a statement blaming “human error” for the nude photo’s inclusion in the email.
“We have determined a link to the inappropriate image was inadvertently added to the email as a result of human error. That error is being addressed as a personnel issue.” the Utah State Bar Commission reported in a statement, the Deseret News reported.
The statement also assured members that the image did not come from the Utah bar’s database and that the email message contained no malware, the Deseret News reported.
Apologies to all who received an inappropriate email from the Utah State Bar. We are aware of the situation and are investigating the matter.
— Utah State Bar (@UtahStateBar) March 5, 2018
Updated March 10 to note the Utah bar’s Friday statement.
