According to the National Leprechaun Museum, the leprechaun is a mythological Irish character. Usually male and dressed in green, the little man is often a shoemaker providing dancing shoes for fairies. Because fairies like to dance, the leprechaun is kept very busy. In fact this is the best way to catch one. If he is so busy with his hammer repairing the fairies’ dancing shoes, he may not hear you coming!
My source informs me thatt there are also female leprechauns but they are rarer and much more difficult to catch than the male. I suppose that Irish Alice in my picture was captured because she was preoccupied with the two oversized bottles of “something good for you” next to her!
But let’s be serious for a moment!
There is nothing mythical about recent develpments in e-discovery in the Republic of Ireland. Apart from the obvious fact that the Irish did not fall into the Woolfian trap of changing the name of our old friend discovery to disclosure in the hope that something good would come of it, the Irish are having a serious go at making e-discovery work for them in their jurisdiction.
A good practice guide to e-discovery in Ireland was published this week with the encouragement of the senior judiciary in Dublin. The guide is free to download at http://ediscoverygroup.ie/
At present there is no obligation to cooperate in Ireland on this issue and the publication of this good practice guide with the support of the judges is intended to go some way towards “closing that gap of frustration.”
Is it any better in England and Wales? Well, yes, I think it is, particularly since the changes to the rules which came into force at the start of this month. I will develop this theme and provide examples in subsequent posts.
In the meantime, ignore the leprechaun and have a peek at this guide.