Email error: Law school dean sends private bar exam results

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The dean of South Carolina’s largest law school is apologizing for forwarding an email that contained the names of students who failed the exam to become a lawyer and the confidential bar exam grades of every student.

University of South Carolina School of Law Dean William Hubbard said he was so excited last week when he got the official email that 82% of his students passed that he forwarded it without noticing the attachments that were supposed to remain private.

“It was totally an accident, an accident I deeply regret,” Hubbard told The State newspaper. “I’ve sent a personal email to every one of those students, and I’ve had an email dialogue with some of them and some phone conversations and plan to make myself available to any student who wants to meet.”

Names of students who fail the bar exam are supposed to never be published and scores for those who passed are not revealed.

Hubbard said he thought he was just forwarding a letter with the overall results for the school.

Hubbard took over as dean of the law school in August. He was once on the university’s Board of Trustees and is a former president of the American Bar Association.

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