I was a witness for Client Counseling today. It was fun, although exhausting. I called myself Greta Garbo and went the pathetic bimbo route. Pathetic, but conniving and tricksy. I hope that when I'm on the other side of the table, I don't have someone like Nina as my client - who apparently plays psycho extremely well. I would be too busy laughing, I think. Or crying.

It did make me think though, and realize that sometimes, you just don't get the full story. For example, my mother was flipping through the channels the other day, when she passes CourtTV. Not a station she normally watches, but she had to stop - her childhood best friend was on the screen! Turns out that Judy Brown is being sued by NBC Studios (although the stories have focused particularly on plaintiff Jay Leno) for stealing jokes to put into her joke books. Those of you who are celebrity gossip buffs, might recognize the story.

Now, I don't know Judy very well, but she is simply NOT a person you sue. (I realize of course, that they're going after the publishers mainly, but it's her name going first.) She's single and she lives alone in a small apartment. She's been a writer for years, but her money comes from these joke books that she compiles. You know, the things you buy when you have no idea what to get your second-cousin-twice-removed for Christmas. She's written 19 of these things for Barnes & Noble (or Borders? I can never get them straight). TMZ.com actually says that Judy sends "representatives" to comedy clubs to record this stuff. Other versions of the story have her "filching" jokes, like she wears a big handlebar moustache and cackles as she sneaks away into the night.

I know that this might be how I make my living and if NBC was suing a major publisher, I would like 40% of that too, but I guess the whole thing reminded me of the fact that people are affected by this and every lawsuit. Especially the "little people". As my mom said, "What is she going to do now?"

Not so funny, Leno.