Recent Bar Exam Results: Open Thread(And: Is the New York Board of Law Examiners Threatening Me?)

‘Tis the season for bar exam results. If you took the bar in February we’re sorry, your score should be on its way.

Several states have announced since our last open thread, which covered Illinois and Kansas. Last week, scores came out for Florida, Massachusetts, and Virginia. Scores have also been out for a while from Missouri and Idaho (where the names of the February bar passers fit on one page).

Congratulations to those who passed; keep your head up if you failed. Please share your stories of triumph or sadness — and mention other states I might have missed — in the comments.

The New York State February bar results are still not in. But do you remember what happened the last time the New York Board of Law Examiners (BOLE) tried to release the results of the test? The results to last July’s NY Bar Exam were accidentally released online at the exact moment a number of readers happened to be looking for results. BOLE then tried to depublish the results and pretend that the mistake never happened. But they were flummoxed by the “CTRL – Print Screen” skills of myself and others. So the July bar results ended going up live on Above the Law, and NY BOLE eventually had to admit its mistake.

Well, it seems that six months later, NY BOLE is still reluctant to admit that they simply screwed up. Instead they’re trying to act like ninja computer hackers are after their lucky charms or something….

As people have presumably started pestering NY BOLE for their bar results, a stern message that frankly reads like a threat appeared on the bar results website. I’m going to use a screen shot because the threat contains multiples typos, and later BOLE will probably deny that they ever existed. See if you can find them (I know, from personal experience, how much you enjoy hunting for typos):

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You know what, BOLE? Blow it out your ass. Nobody hacked into your system; nobody broke through your deep layers of internet security to steal a sneak peak at who passed the bar exam. Somebody on your end hit a button they weren’t supposed to hit, and people noticed. That is all.

Nobody will be prosecuted for publishing what you yourself accidentally published. And even if you really wanted to press charges, I don’t think the “GOVER-MENT” would give a crap.

Look, if you don’t want people to see the bar results before you are ready to publish them, then don’t publish them before you are supposed to. It’s that simple. And if you do make a mistake, just admit it and move on.

NY BOLE’s behavior conveys a terrible message to young attorneys. The law examiners are teaching that it’s appropriate to cover up mistakes with stubborn denials and wild misinformation about other potential culprits. They are teaching that it’s appropriate to threaten people, instead of monitoring what goes public on the internet.

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You can try to confuse people on the exam, but in your dealings with others you should be straightforward.

Earlier: The UNOFFICIAL New York Bar Exam Results Accidentally Posted on the Web Briefly Today.
New York Bar Examiners Admit to Accidental Release of New York Bar Results
Prior ATL coverage of bar exams