Private Footprint Indexing Tool Simplifies New Affidavit of Documents Requirements
Private Footprint Indexing Tool Simplifies New Affidavit of Documents RequirementsIn a closely watched decision, the Ontario Superior Court’s ruling in Mohamud v. Juskey, has redefined the legal landscape, emphasizing the need for comprehensive disclosure of social media content by plaintiff lawyers in their client’s Affidavit of Documents (AOD). This case has become a cornerstone in legal precedent in Ontario, as in it the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that it is reasonable to request that all social media posts deemed relevant to a plaintiff’s case be listed in the AOD.
What does this ruling mean?
The implications of this new ruling will cause a paradigm shift in addressing social media in legal proceedings, impacting the way that lawyers consider social media in their cases, and the work required in reviewing their client’s social media profiles. The decision reflects an important shift, asserting that information on social media platforms, regardless of privacy, is indispensable in legal proceedings. This ruling dismantles previous notions of privacy, insisting on transparency in the digital sphere. The implications of this ruling are profound, especially considering the extensive use of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. Legal professionals will likely be requested to undertake a thorough review of these platforms for every case. This task, if done manually, will require hours of sifting through posts, identifying their relevance, and documenting them for the AOD. Manually compiling relevant social media content is a Herculean task. Legal teams must gain access to their clients’ social media accounts to view all public and private posts, then painstakingly navigate through them, identify pertinent posts, and determine their chronological context. This process involves cross-referencing posts with case facts, a task that demands meticulous attention to detail and an enormous amount of time.
Private Footprint: From Hours to Minutes
Recognizing the enormity of this challenge, Private Footprint has developed a solution for law firms in Ontario. Our platform now features a reporting function that drastically simplifies the creation of a social media index for the Affidavit of Documents. Plaintiff lawyers and their teams can effortlessly download a comprehensive index of a client’s social media activity, available in both PDF and Word formats, that includes the date and social media tool for each post indexed. The index can then simply be copied and pasted into the client’s AOD – saving hours of frustration and valuable time. Private Footprint’s tool not only automates the process of collecting client social media content, but also allows legal teams to quickly sort through thousands of posts to identify the relevant content to be included in the AOD. In an era where time is of the essence, Private Footprint offers an invaluable advantage. What would typically consume hours of labour can now be accomplished in minutes. This efficiency allows legal teams to redirect their focus and resources towards more strategic aspects of case preparation, secure in the knowledge that the compilation of social media evidence is handled proficiently. And for a one-time fee of only $100 USD per file, the return on this investment is instant. The Mohamud v. Juskey, 2023 ONSC 4414 ruling has unequivocally established that ignorance of a client’s social media presence is no longer tenable in legal practice. Private Footprint is a vital tool in this new era, offering an innovative and affordable solution for plaintiff lawyers. Are you aware of what your clients are posting? The defense counsel certainly is. Schedule a demo today and start protecting the value of your files with Private Footprint.
