Lawyers across Utah opened their email inboxes on Monday afternoon to be greeted by an image of a topless woman. As far as emails go, it seemed typical enough. Sent out shortly after 3pm Monday, it was promoting the Utah State Bar’s 2018 Spring Convention in St. George on behalf of the Bar. One attached image was a photo related to the convention; the other was of a woman’s breasts. Every active attorney in the state was on the distribution list and the Bar is investigating how the photo ended up being attached to the email, which was created “in-house,” Bar Communications Director Matt Page tells the Salt Lake Tribune.
The state certification agency, in a note meant to advertise its annual spring convention in St. George, accidentally also attached an image of a topless woman—and the email was sent to every member attorney.
According to the organization’s website, more than 11,000 attorneys belong to the Utah State Bar.
“We are horrified,” John Baldwin, executive director of the Bar, said in an email. “We are investigating to discover how this occurred. Our goal is to find out what happened and insure it never happens again.”
That, of course, didn’t stop the image from circulating and it certainly didn’t stop Twitter from having a laugh at the Bar’s expense. Some lawyers posted the email on Twitter, with one saying he opened the email while he was working on the House floor at the state capitol, the outlet reports.
“We are horrified,” said John Baldwin, executive director of the Bar, told Fox 13, “We are investigating to discover how this occurred. Our goal is to find out what happened and insure it never happens again.”
One attorney describes opening the email while sitting in the House gallery at the state Capitol. “I was expecting a routine email I would most likely scroll through and delete. But I had to scroll through and delete a lot faster than I had initially anticipated.” Page uses the word “horrified,” as does the Bar’s executive director. Page tells the Deseret News an inquiry has been launched and is chasing down two theories: that they were hacked, or that someone internal attached it, either purposefully or accidentally. He says once the probe is complete it will update the recipients on the findings. Fox 13 has a censored screenshot of the email here.