LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Nancie Givens, a former Arkansas official responsible for overseeing bar examination records, faces 65 felony charges following an Arkansas State Police investigation into alleged exam score tampering spanning five years.
Sixth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones announced Thursday that Givens, the former executive director of the Arkansas Supreme Court’s Office of Professional Programs, had been arrested and charged with 65 counts of tampering with a public record. Each count is a Class C felony. Jones said the charges involve allegations that exam results were altered and supporting records were destroyed.
Investigators found evidence that Givens took points from some examinees and added them to others’ scores on the same exam, bringing some to or above the minimum passing score of 270, according to a joint statement from six Arkansas Supreme Court justices. An internal review found score discrepancies in at least eight rounds of testing from July 2020 through July 2025.
The justices said the changes may also have turned a passing score into a failing one in at least one case. In another instance, an examinee’s score was lowered enough that someone else was named the top scorer.
The justices said most examinees who were told they passed did pass. The court’s Office of Professional Conduct will notify affected examinees once their results are confirmed. The statement did not say how many people received passing results in error or whether any went on to practice law in Arkansas.
Givens resigned in February. Robert Brech, who took over supervision of the office, found that about 11,400 files had been deleted or made inaccessible in January. Many of those files were applications, examinee profiles and score sheets that the office was required to keep for 25 years.
Arkansas State Police and the FBI opened a criminal investigation in April after the court referred the findings to state and federal authorities. The justices said the court is working with investigators to recover missing records and review exam results. The court put new testing and security procedures in place for the February 2026 exam.
Givens pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Little Rock District Court, Reuters reported. A panel of the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct separately issued an interim order Thursday suspending her from practicing law in Arkansas.
All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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