I am motivated to write this post in my blog, by Kelly Twigger of eDiscovery Assistant and ESI Attorneys in Colorado USA. She is someone I have never met but know of, through so many others, and I always try to read her posts and comments. Her latest blog refers to the five things that she and her colleagues at eDiscovery Assistant are grateful for and it so resonated with me that I wanted to write something similar for my SA contacts without plagiarising Kelly’s work and ensuring that I credited her for it! So, as we move towards the close of perhaps the strangest year ever, here are four things for which I am grateful as far as eDiscovery is concerned. Global eDiscovery community Without a shadow of a doubt, the thing I value most from my 20 years in eDiscovery and litigation support, is being part of a global community of like-minded people. I am fortunate enough to have worked with people from all over the globe, and from this have developed contacts and friends everywhere. There is in existence a true worldwide camaraderie which helps to “shrink” the eDiscovery world, and even if you have never physically met, there are so many people to whom you can reach out for help, advice or just chat and of course, vice versa. As such, I hope over the last 6 or more years I have played a part in putting SA on the eDiscovery map. The community ranges from service providers and consultants to authors and commentators, to lawyers and law firm technical staff, to software solution companies, to judges, advocates and law students. It is truly inspirational and the content volume that comes across my desktop on a daily basis is astonishing. When I moved to SA in 2014, retirement was at the forefront of my mind but very quickly I realised that I could not, because I was contacted by so many people from all over the world who wanted to chat or wanted advice or a referral within SA and the wider Africa. Since then, I was able to build a network of thousands of people within SA with whom I could talk about eDiscovery, and boy, have I talked and talked and written and written all in the cause of eDiscovery awareness and education in SA. As I said, I hope I have played some part in putting people together here within SA, and from outside our shores, to help to place SA on the global eDiscovery map. To all of you – thank you. My blog and post readers This post is, believe it or not, the 92nd that I have written about eDiscovery in SA or related topics on my working life here. There is little point in writing anything unless people read it and therefore to all of those who do read my posts, a heartfelt thank you. It is through these posts, and the SA network that I have been able to create, that I have met many people in SA and been invited to speak at numerous events, webinars, lectures, presentations and training sessions etc. They led me to presenting on eDiscovery to the Rules Board of the Dept of Justice in my quest to have the civil procedure rules amended to incorporate eDiscovery. They led me to Adv Ismail Hussain SC who, in turn led me to Lexis Nexis who published my book, “A guide to eDiscovery in South Africa” . This has established an important relationship between Lexis Nexis and myself, and I feel part of their family and want to support and help all that they do for the legal profession in SA. To my SA followers and readers – thank you. eDiscovery solutions There would be little point being involved in this industry without these software solutions! During my time in the UK as a service provider, I had six or seven such solutions as well as links to many more. I have seen such an amazing development in the capabilities of these solutions over the last 20 years that is hard to believe. It is ever continuing, all aimed at dealing with the ever-increasing volumes and types of electronic data and striving to reduce the cost of litigation, investigations etc. by utilising technology instead of “eyes-on” review of all documents. In my time, solutions have come and gone and there are so many now, all with great features. I rarely single any out but must make an exception by mentioning Relativity , especially their cloud-based solution RelativityOne as this is now impacting in SA. I first came across Relativity in its early days about 17 years ago and no one, including me, ever thought it would be where it is today. It is by far the global market leader, and I am in regular contact with many people there, some of whom I have known for more than 10 years. I have championed its use in SA and am beyond thrilled that RelativityOne is now available here. I know that in the coming years we will see more and more of its use and development in South Africa and I am sure that I will continue to play a part in that. To the solutions companies – thank you. Family It is through eDiscovery that my wife, Waseema, and I came together. We worked together in the UK on some of the world’s best known and exciting cases and made many, many trips to the USA and throughout Europe on eDiscovery. Now, we are both in SA and still talking about eDiscovery every single day (sad people that we are!). Without her support and encouragement, I would undoubtedly have retired from all this years ago. We have battled through, like everyone else, horrendous times with Covid-19 and juggled the work, parenting etc. that we all experience. A huge thank you! All of the above has motivated me to help to put SA on the global eDiscovery map although there is still a long way to go, and I am not for giving up yet. This awful year is almost at an end, and it is looking as if we will be facing more problems with Covid. To all my SA friends and contacts stay safe, have as good a festive season as is possible and let us see what 2022 has in store for us.