I’ve seen many things exchanged in aid of settlement — money, real property, personal property, apologies, handshakes, and a wide variety of promises. I’ve seen litigants promise to cooperate in lawsuits against third parties, promise to keep information confidential, promise to provide goods and services.

However, before now, I had never seen a litigant promise to act as a vanity press.

Via Overlawyered, read the embarrassing story of Philadelphia lawyer Richard Sprague. Sprague sued the American Bar Association over an article describing him as a “fixer,” and later settled. The ABA, as lawyers know, publishes many books, periodicals, and other materials related to the practice of law. As Overlawyered and Law Librarian Blog describe, in settlement the ABA apparently caved in a particularly demeaning way and agreed to publish a fulsome-sounding biography of Sprague: “Fearless: The Richard A. Sprague Story.” It’s hard to tell which is more pathetic — Sprague for demanding that the ABA act as his vanity press, or the ABA bending over and doing it. It’s certainly an impressive feat of fixing for Sprague, though.

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