There is currently a joke in SA that the President has ordered load shedding to continue so that the Corona virus cannot see where it is going. Enough said on load shedding which is such a blight on our country, but what of COVID-19 and how does it link with eDiscovery, to say nothing of the ostrich. Generally speaking, we all have a tendency to be shocked and/or interested in happenings but breathe a sigh of relief when they do not appear to affect us. Common thinking for example is that something is terrible but thank goodness we do not need to concern ourselves about it. I am sure there is a large element of that in relation to COVID-19 whereby many of us are thinking that as we are not going to travel to China or even Italy (I still do not know how Italy has been so badly affected!) then all will be fine. Of course, the chances are that that will be the case but how can we be so sure or complacent? At the time of writing there are but 7 confirmed cases in SA, very small in comparison to other countries where we are seeing widespread cases and fatalities and high level action relating to industry and sport. Bearing in mind that as yet there is no cure is it not dangerous to think it will not happen to me and is it not foolhardy to avoid to take any precautions such as curtail travel, use sanitisers and simple basic hygiene procedures? Similarly, with eDiscovery in SA, it is so easy to adopt an attitude of, “That’s interesting, but it doesn’t apply to me or my clients”. When eDiscovery started to “bite” in the UK I had numerous lawyers and corporations tell me they were not sufficiently interested to have anything other than basic information as they either did not have cases large enough to warrant the use of eDiscovery technology or that eDiscovery did not apply to them as they were outside London (really???). Some also said that using eDiscovery technology was “only for the big boys”. Of course all of those comments and assumptions were erroneous in the extreme as the makers found out to their cost. Can you imagine a situation whereby amendments to Civil Procedure Rules only applied to cases within a radius of a few miles from London or Johannesburg or only to major cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, or Cape Town or Durban? The absolute inescapable truth is that eDiscovery is here already and has been for some time and the real problem is that a) insufficient lawyers and there clients are embracing it and b) the Rules Board of the DOJ have yet to incorporate it into our Uniform Rules. As I have said many, many times eDiscovery does not in any way change the fundamental basic principle of discovery whereby after a reasonable search, relevant documents must be disclosed to the other side whether against you or not. All that has changed, which makes us demand eDiscovery as part of the process, is the type of documents. Without going over old ground, we do not write letters or prepare financial statements or Board Minutes etc. anymore - we create electronic documents which incorporate the required text. As the documents are created electronically so they must be researched and investigated electronically. What are the consequences of failing to utilise eDiscovery technology? Simply, the risk of missing documents which could mean certain documents are not discovered, and taken to its logical conclusion, a wrong decision at trial or a missed opportunity of favourable settlement. Additionally, of course the risk of attorneys being accused of professional negligence is great. With regard to the idea of “small” cases, of course the mandatory use of eDiscovery has to have some “entry” limit which is why, in SA I have promoted its mandatory use only for High Court cases, but that is not say it should not be used in smaller appropriate cases. Using eDiscovery technology properly will save costs, as it has been proven all over the world, and therefore failing to use it questions the attorney’s duty to his client and even the Court. So, COVID-19 and eDiscovery in SA have something in common in that it is here, prepare for it and embrace its possible and probable effect. Where does the ostrich come in? We can all do the well known “ostrich dance” of simply ignoring COVID-19 and eDiscovery saying that it does not affect us but remember one thing, interesting animal as it is, an ostrich is more than capable of a strong and painful bite!