So went my introduction to the world of house swap vacations.

Rewind six months as The Crime Traveller’s Wife and I were mapping out the possibility of visiting Israel for our summer holidays. With our children now aged seven and five, I felt we had finally entered the family travel sweet spot — when the children are old enough to enjoy and participate in travel activities while still not being so old that they have grown to hate travelling with their parents. I had to strike while the iron was hot.

As soon as I settled on Israel I also instinctively knew that nothing less than two to three weeks was going to be sufficient. I wasn’t going to mortgage my sanity for a 12-hour economy-class flight with two young kids to a country with a seven-hour time difference unless I knew I’d be staying long enough for the memory of the inbound flight to fade before I had to brave the return trip. The challenge then became finding an economical way to house my family of four for an extended holiday.

Every weekday morning, Precedent scours the headlines to find stories likely to be today's hot topics.

• Jim Middlemiss: In Canada, 40% of public companies have no liability insurance, and many others don’t have enough. That’s a risky situation given the current class action–heavy environment. [National Post — Legal Post]
• Pension lawyers are watching the Tolko Industries case in B.C., in which employees are suing their employer after switching to a defined contribution plan. The case may lay “new ground rules” for organizations seeking to switch from more expensive defined benefit plans. [Globe and Mail — The Law Page]
• G20 detainee Natalie Grey is suing the Toronto Police Services Board and others for $1 million, and has retained Clay Ruby and Brian Shiller. She alleges being shot by rubber bullets, arrested, and detained. Charges against her were dropped on August 23. [Toronto Star]
• Vern Krishna: Why doesn’t Canada have its own Taxpayer Bill of Rights? Does the legislation in place properly protect taxpayers? [National Post — Legal Post]
• The U.S. legal sector gained 1,000 jobs in August , but is still 14,000 jobs behind where it was this time last year. [National Post — Legal Post]
• Rénald Beaudry, the lawyer representing former Quebec Justice Minister Marc Bellemere at the inquiry into judicial hiring in the province, accused lawyers for the government of having no other interest but “to harm the reputation of my client and meddle in his private life to achieve it.” [Globe and Mail]
• Christie Blatchford: The circumstances that led to Jack King posting explicit photos of wife Lori Douglas (now a Manitoba judge) in 2003 are “a reminder of the age-old perils of dealing with what appears to be blackmail,” as well as an indicator of how the digital age can entrench otherwise buried transgressions. [Globe and Mail]
  

As much as Ontario has to offer food-wise, I often lament our landlocked (well, saltwater-wise, anyway) status. How hard is it to get a properly cooked piece of fish around here? A recent visit to Maléna, which debuted earlier this year as Toronto’s new answer to a proper seafood restaurant, only confirmed my general disappointment with the state of seafood in this town. As this review from Toronto Life suggests, even when well-sourced fresh fish is available, it takes so long to get here that maybe local chefs just cook the crap out of it anyway to be sure. The appetizers (an assortment of well-prepared crudos, the delicate and savoury smoked halibut cheek cakes, a perfectly-braised and grilled octopus salad) stole the show. The main event, however — this time a fresh piece of Atlantic black mullet grilled whole and served unadorned, Mediterranean-style — disappoints: slightly overcooked, lacking in flavour, needing the help of the trio of sauces served alongside it. We’re starting to simply accept that Toronto will never be a seafood town.

This doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t make a good seafood dish at home. Fish and seafood can be tricky to cook (and easy to overcook) and not particularly cheap, leading many to avoid it altogether. Poaching seafood helps avoid the overcooking, and the recipe after the jump for a quick bouillabaisse (a Provencal fish stew) allows for flexibility in terms of your ingredients — you can splurge on shrimp and scallops, or skimp with some cod fillets instead. Always try and find the freshest possible, but chances are, your grocery store is going to carry flash-frozen seafood, which most of us settle for anyways.

After the jump: How to have your fish, and eat it too.

Every weekday morning, Precedent scours the headlines to find stories likely to be today's hot topics.

• Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was reportedly lashed last week in Iranian prison, and could be executed — possibly by stoning — as early as Thursday, when Ramadan comes to a close. The international campaign to convince Iranian clerics not to execute her has switched into high gear. [Globe and Mail]
• A lawsuit alleging that Sunnybrook doctors stood by and let an ailing patient die, against his wishes and those of his daughter, is raising questions about medical ethics, the right to life, and who gets to decide whether a patient can be saved. [Toronto Star]
• The lawyers behind the G20 class-action suits say that Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair’s recent admission of judgemental error may undermine their cases. A police spokesperson says that to imply that this was Blair’s intent would be “dangerous.” [Globe and Mail]
• B.C.’s recently proposed re-thinking of family law — including more accessible arbitration, increased consultation with children and parental and property rights changes for common-law couples — are receiving positive reviews from legal watchers across Canada. [Lawyers Weekly]
• Jim Rankin reflects on the controversy and media storm surrounding the arrests and trials of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. Bernardo was found guilty 15 years ago this month. [Toronto Star]
• Sara Arnstein and Richard Lee, Deloitte:  “Fostering an environment that attracts the best and brightest — regardless of background, creed, gender, race or religion — can be a competitive advantage for your firm.” [Lawyers Weekly]
  

As an entertainment lawyer in New York, Anita K. Sharma was part of some major deals — including multimillion-dollar financing agreements between major production companies and JP Morgan Chase. But the biggest pressure-cooker environment she’s experienced so far in her unique career path was an interview by a panel of film and TV industry vets, for admission into the Producers’ Lab at the Canadian Film Centre (CFC).

“I walked in there really cocky,” Sharma told Precedent. “I mean, I’d interviewed at big Wall Street firms. I think they pegged me as a lawyer who thought very highly of herself, and they were going to knock me down a few notches. So they instantly started grilling me on my lack of experience, not my experience. It was the most challenging interview I’d ever had.”

Nevertheless, she impressed the panel with her legal background and passion for film, and was one of five applicants admitted to the program last year. Sharma went on to co-produce Champagne, a CFC-funded project screening this month as part of the Short Cuts Canada program at the Toronto International Film Festival. The short film, a meditation on the complexities of attraction, the night-shift grind, and the emboldening effects of a bottle of cheap champagne, was filmed in Toronto around Ossington and Dupont.

After the jump: Sharma traces her path through the world of New York's entertainment to her new role at a Toronto production company. Plus, view a preview of Champagne.

Every weekday morning, Precedent scours the headlines to find stories likely to be today's hot topics.

• The man who went public with explicit photos of Manitoba judge Lori Douglas has been ordered by the court to return the pictures, and also faces a countersuit by Douglas’s husband, lawyer Jack King. [Toronto Star]
• Judith Timson: “The likelihood is we will never get our privacy fully back. That's for all of us to mourn and be mindful of. And judges are no exception. But judges should be held to a higher standard.” [Globe and Mail]
• Soon after Toronto lawyer David Midanik launched a second G20 class action, seeking $115 million on behalf of detainees and businesses, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair admitted for the first time that officers made tactical mistakes during the Summit. [Globe and Mail]
• The OSC is drawing criticism from legal watchers for settling its 24-year-old case against Mascan Corp. founder Bruce McLaughlin. Minority shareholders the Commission was representing will not receive any compensation in the settlement. [National Post]
• The U.S. Department of Justice has sued Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio for failing to cooperate with an investigation into whether the sheriff’s department has been conducting sweeps that violate immigrants’ constitutional rights. [ABA Journal]
• A B.C. judge chastises Corrections Canada and references Alice in Wonderland in a ruling granting an inmate serving a life sentence the right to buy a thesaurus. [Globe and Mail]
• Lawyers for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the lawsuit against him by a New York man reaches too far into the Internet mogul’s private life. [Toronto Star]
  

On Saturday, September 4, Vintages is presenting a new release of wines, with a focus on reds from the Southern Rhone Valley. At its best, the South Rhone produces rich red wines with the savoury character of herbs, game and earth. In the most traditional and rustic bottles, this earthiness ripens into a fecund aroma that most critics euphemistically call barnyard (having never stepped into a barnyard myself, I prefer the term scat).

In any case, you have to watch your step in this particular barnyard because the Rhone also produces a lot of mediocre table wine. So, here are the Short Cellar’s top picks:

Pierre Amadeiu “Romane Machotte” 2007 Gigondas ($22.95, Vintages #017400)
Gigondas is a high and hot sub-appellation in the Rhone. This terroir gives the wine a molten character that is developing a strong cult following among oenophiles. The 2007 Romane Machotte is a classic Gigondas with rich and spiky juxtapositions of flavour. The nose is like a peony dusted with freshly ground black pepper. The flavours are deep, coarse and complex, featuring a lovely cherry/blackberry fruit spiced with garrigue (the flavour of wild herbs and lavender). This is a perfect cellar wine and it will continue to improve toward 2018. 91/100

After the jump: More picks from the South Rhone, including the best of the bunch.

Every weekday morning, Precedent scours the headlines to find stories likely to be today's hot topics.

• Manitoba Judge Lori Douglas has agreed to be removed from the bench while a review is underway concerning the exposure of sexually explicit photographs of her. Douglas will continue to work in an administrative capacity. [National Post]
• Christie Blatchford: “A judge’s credibility depends on legal knowledge, fairness, experience and courtroom manners, not what he does with his member, or what she does with it.” [Globe and Mail]
• Heather Mallick: “[F]ind me a judge with a pristine private life. Such an animal would be incapable of understanding the human condition.” [Toronto Star]
• Havi Alizadeh — one of the people arrested last week on terrorism charges — and his lawyer, Sean May, plan to fight for the release of secret evidence gathered about Alizadeh by Canadian intelligence. The tactic could delay Alizadeh’s trial for years. [Globe and Mail]
• A conservative California lobby group is calling on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown to testify when the Proposition 8 gay marriage trial reaches U.S. federal court. [Wall Street Journal — Law Blog]
• Quebec Premier Jean Charest is being tried in the court of public and media opinion in the face of Marc Bellemere’s influence-peddling allegations. [Globe and Mail]
  

The CBC reported yesterday that the husband of a Manitoba judge showed sexually explicit photos of his wife to another man, in an effort to convince him to have sex with his spouse.

Alexander Chapman filed complaints with the Canadian Judicial Council and Manitoba Law Society earlier this summer, naming Justice Lori Douglas and Winnipeg lawyer Jack King. Chapman claims King, who he retained to handle his divorce proceedings, showed him more than 30 photographs in 2003, posted to the website Darkcavern.com. Douglas was appointed to the bench two years later.

The post on CBC.ca is accompanied by sidebars explaining the ethical rationale for reporting the story, and providing quotes from legal scholars on the ramifications of both the story and the photos themselves.

Should the exposure of sexually explicit photos affect a judge’s standing? Take our latest poll, to the right of this post, and let us know what you think.

Every weekday morning, Precedent scours the headlines to find stories likely to be today's hot topics.

• Former Quebec Justice Minister Marc Bellemere testified Tuesday that he told two staff members he was under pressure to let Liberal fundraisers influence judicial appointments. It remains to be seen whether these people will be called to testify. [Toronto Star]
• Editorial: “The allegations [that Jean Charest’s government appointed party backers as judges] strike at the very integrity of the justice system. But they are not, at the moment, a criminal matter....[The public] should wait to hear Mr. Charest's side of the story before issuing their verdict.” [Globe and Mail]
• Jim Middlemiss: In-house lawyers are finding savings for the companies by demanding fixed rates, hiring smaller firms, setting strict deadlines, and using new reporting systems. [National Post — Legal Post]
• The B.C. Supreme Court judge presiding over the Air India perjury trial of Inderjit Singh Reyat told jurors to resist the natural urge to research the case on the Internet. The trial begins September 9. [Globe and Mail]
• Omar Khadr’s trial will resume on October 18 at Guantanamo Bay. [Toronto Star]
• The federal government will appeal the recent staying of extradition proceedings against Abdullah Khadr, Omar’s older brother. Khadr family lawyer Dennis Edney said yesterday that the government “has shown little respect for the judiciary” throughout the case. [Toronto Star]
• Saskatchewan securities watchers are bracing for the province’s first “poison pill” hearing, stemming from the $38.6-billion takeover bid of Potash Corp. by Australian mining company BHP Billiton. [Globe and Mail — The Law Page]
• Bar Talk:
  • The Magna buyout approval was attended by 18 robed lawyers, and more in the gallery.
  • Margot Patterson has been hired by FMC, and will join the firm’s Ottawa office. Patterson was the general counsel of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. [Globe and Mail — The Law Page]
• Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said that the lawsuit filed against him by a man who claims to own more than 80% of the company is trying to move the case to state court in New York only to “burden and harass” the social media titan. [National Post — Legal Post]
• A young Pakistani lawyer successfully petitioned the Lahore High Court arguing that cricket players involved in match-fixing could be charged with treason. [Globe and Mail]