Just as we thought 2020 could get no worse, here in South Africa, we had earthquakes recently for the first time in around 50 years! Well, we are drawing towards the end of this “annus horribilis” but is it all bad? Have we learned a lot? Let us have a look at my subject, eDiscovery in SA and I would venture to suggest it is not all bad and yes, we have learned a lot. I would go as far as saying that what is left of 2020 could be exciting in the eDiscovery world in SA, certainly as far as I am concerned. I continue to see more law firms and corporations availing themselves of eDiscovery technology. Furthermore, I have recently been engaged by one of South Africa’s largest law firms to advise them on eDiscovery generally. My advice covers the age-old dilemma for law firms, of in-house versus outsource; eDiscovery solutions; cloud hosting; POPIA; and service providers. For confidentiality reasons I cannot say more at this stage, but how refreshing to know that eDiscovery is being considered in these difficult business times and it goes without saying that I am delighted to be involved. Next, I am very pleased to be speaking at the Legal Innovation Tech Fest Online 2-4th November on the importance of eDiscovery in SA. This event was meant to be live in Sandton before the pandemic ruled out such events. Looking forward to it! It has been my habit to update everyone when anything happens in SA on eDiscovery and, in particular, when we see a new service provider. That is what happened just a few short months ago when we saw the launch of Insiox in Cape Town. Graham Dawes, founder and CEO of Insiox, was a Partner at Deloitte here and has masses of experience in investigations and eDiscovery. He was instrumental in bringing the global market leading solution, Relativity here in 2013. Graham is now breaking new ground using Relativity One in SA and running large investigations incorporating the solution, and managed review with highly skilled investigators and attorneys. As my title suggests timing is everything and I suspect that there will be more news about Insiox in the coming months. What is happening elsewhere in the world of eDiscovery? In the UK we are seeing some litigators complaining about the new eDisclosure pilot scheme as reported by good friend Jonathan Maas - Whilst in the US it seems more courts are absolutely on board with the use of eDiscovery technology and this post asks, “…are you..”? I am always pleased to see another good friend Andrew King over in New Zealand being rewarded for his efforts and clearly from his recent comments on Social Media, he is getting out and about spreading the word and proudly writing the New Zealand chapter of this year’s State of Legal Innovation in APAC (SOLIA) report. Andrew was a major contributor to the rules of eDiscovery and procedural protocol in New Zealand’s rules of civil procedure as far as eDiscovery is concerned. It is interesting that whilst the UK grapple with their latest complex version of the rules of eDiscovery, New Zealand is happily continuing with theirs. The significance of that to me is that with the permission of NZ, I used extracts of their protocol to draft an “entry level” set of procedures for South Africa which I submitted to our Rules Board. And, no, before you ask, I have still heard nothing from their Task Force working on our proposals to change our rules – believe me, when I do, I will report it immediately. That brings me to my final point on positivity and timing for eDiscovery in SA. Our book is ever closer, and my co-author and I have been passing our opinions and approving the book cover. It will be on the market this year – watch this space! As I said in the title, timing is everything and now is the time to be positive, especially about eDiscovery in SA so let us stop worrying about earthquakes!