It is 7 years now since I came to SA and instead of relaxing by my pool with cold beer, I am still SA’s only independent eDiscovery Consultant. Thank you so much for those of you who offered congratulations on my anniversary and for supporting me throughout this time. It has prompted me to look back on the journey. My self-imposed retirement in 2014 lasted just 3 weeks, when I was asked to be a panellist at an eDiscovery seminar in Cape Town. Further, I started receiving messages and emails from contacts around the world seeking advice on matters they had, involving SA and the wider Africa. I started to get to know people in SA, attorneys, service providers etc. and began to learn about the fact that SA did not incorporate eDiscovery into its rules of civil procedure. It was also clear, pretty quickly, that an education and awareness programme was an absolutely necessity here and I took it upon myself to provide that. I devised an eDiscovery presentation suitable for SA and then using digital marketing, mostly Linkedin (where I now have more than 4000 SA connections), began to “put myself about”. I travelled to JHB often, meeting people, doing the presentation and started to work with law firms, advocates, and service providers, giving advice etc. At the same time, I was gathering information as to how to approach the subject of a change in the rules. This moved to a point in 2017 when I was invited to address the High Court Committee of the Rules Board on the subject. By this time a lot of people were getting to know me, and I was doing more presentations and requests for assistance. In short, I was “hooked” and I made it my mission to improve eDiscovery standards in SA and to do whatever I could to have the rules changed. My regular blog on eDiscovery in SA, won two international awards, the LSSA supported my drive and assisted with proposed amendments to the rules which were submitted to the Rules Board. Then there was silence from the Rules Board for a long time and I began to wonder why I was bothering. On the positive side the use of eDiscovery technology was growing and without being in any way conceited I take some credit for that. A meeting with some long-standing US friends and colleagues who happened to be visiting CT gave me the impetus to renew my energies. They reminded me that in every other jurisdiction that had adopted eDiscovery, the support of one or more members of the judiciary had been key and so I decided to “find a Judge”! I was recommended by many to contact Retd Judge Ismail Hussain SC. I tracked him down eventually, he was visiting CT the next day where he was running a seminar and we met for dinner and talked for hours. The rest, as they say, is history. We became firm friends, sharing the passion for change, and he persuaded me we must write a book for SA on eDiscovery. I also learned how good he is at delegation, as Ismail contributed one excellent chapter and left me with the rest! The book was published by Lexis Nexis By this time, we had learned that the Rules Board had appointed an internal Task Team to investigate “all matters digital” including the adoption of eDiscovery. Then in the last quarter of 2020 the SALRC produced Discussion Paper 150, an investigation into legal fees and the effect on access to justice. I was honoured to be quoted in that Paper following an article I had written for De Rebus. As everyone knows, the Chairman of SALRC is none other than Judge Jody Kollapen, and through Ismail, he not only agreed to write the Foreword for the book but was the keynote speaker at its launch. His involvement and advocacy of the book inspired me further and since that time I have been constantly busy with more presentations, webinars and speaking engagements. Throughout all of this I remain in close contact with my many global friends and contacts in the world of eDiscovery, keeping on top of what is happening around the world and still pushing for better standards in SA. It is happening – slowly – more use of the technology, a greater level of understanding, and more engagements which are of great interest to me. The Rules Board have published proposals for what is called the e-justice system, a set of rules and procedures for e-filing and digital presentation of trial bundles. It is not eDiscovery, but it is a step in the right direction and we have to believe that eDiscovery is the next aim of the Task Team. Right now, I am very busy with some potentially very exciting engagements whilst at the same time preparing for some high-level speaking engagements and lectures (watch this space!). In the last 7 years we have moved from there being virtually no eDiscovery in SA to the point that the use of eDiscovery technology is happening every single day here. There is a quote attributed to the Dalai Lama, “Wrong is wrong even when everyone is doing it but right is right even if no one is doing it”. I have always said eDiscovery has to be part of the rules because it is right. So, the last 7 years for me have at times been frustrating, even depressing, and I have been asked many times, “Why bother”? Well, because as I say, it is right, and I have no intention of giving up. Has it all been worth it? Hell yes.