By Haley Ellis

Jacob Perrone, Founding Attorney at Dragon Lawyers PC in Michigan, triggered courtroom controversy after using a cartoon dragon logo as a watermark on legal filings, raising broader questions about branding regarding the rise of the commercialization of law.

In an attempt to market his aggressive representation in the courtroom, Perrone purchased a logo of a purple cartoon dragon in a suit and used it as a watermark on his recent legal filings. However, his creative attempt to boost brand image was rejected after U.S. Magistrate Judge Ray Kent perceived it to illustrate a lack of professionalism and ordered it to be removed from all documents.

Perrone first conceived the idea for the logo back in 2017, during the hype of the popular TV show, “Game of Thrones.”

“People liked dragons and progressive representation was the thing that everybody was advertising and everybody was trying to get the first page on Google,” Perrone said. “So I thought it may be something that could possibly stand out at that stage.”

Years later in 2025, Perrone took a leap of faith and launched his purple dragon brand symbol to see how it would be received within the legal profession.

As it turned out, the bold visual was perceived in a variety of conflicting ways. One element possibly facilitating the perception, Perrone assumed, could have been the choice in the shade of purple.

“I’m colorblind,” Perrone said. “So when I put a watermark on a piece of paper, it didn’t have the same impact on me as it may someone else. So I can understand somebody seeing in full color, it might pop out a little bit more.”

Ultimately, Perrone just thought the logo would be a unique and compelling way to market his brand and courtroom demeanor.

“I was not trying to push the envelope,” Perrone said. “I wasn’t trying to toe the line. I wasn’t trying to do anything to garner any attention.”

All of this begs the question: Why would marketing oneself within the legal field be so important in 2025, and what are the ethics that need to be navigated within the commercialization of law?

“I think the commercialization of law is inevitable given the progression of society at this stage,” Perrone said. “One of my main intentions with the Dragon Lawyer brand concept was that I was going to brand myself as a mental health lawyer.”

Perrone sees his logo as a guide in which to point people who struggle with mental health in the direction of his representation, as he is inspired to help those struggling who don’t have access to the resources they need.

“The resources are out there if you know where to find them, but they’re very difficult to find,” Perrone said.
In defense of his unconventional branding, Perrone responded to the criticism that his logo undermined the prestige of the legal profession.
“I don’t think that it’s necessarily beneath the prestige of the industry,” Perrone said. “98 percent of law isn’t glamorous. It’s the exact opposite. It’s very dirty and you have to go to places that other people can’t or just can’t process.”

He also mentioned how the legal realm is changing rapidly with the rise of AI, pressuring those practicing law to adapt and shift to doing things differently.

“I think the profession is becoming more progressive overall, inevitably,” Perrone said. “I think that realistically, because of AI, the profession is going to have to dramatically change the way that it’s operating currently, or it’s going to face some significant obstacles in the future, especially with the advent of things like quantum computing,” Perrone said.

Perrone has been working in the legal field for 17 years, and he finds the substance behind his legal filings to be the most important thing, not a watermark, which was simply put there for branding purposes.

“Read the substance of it,” Perrone said when referring to his documents. “Look at the legal writing associated with it. Give it to somebody and tell me that there’s something wrong with my legal writing. If you’re gonna call my character into question over a dragon, read the damn complaint.”

Google is a major factor when it comes to legal competition. Firms dominating internet real estate tend to be found more easily by potential clients than those who don’t pop up first in the search bar.

“It gets all the results,” Perrone said referring to law firms who have put a lot of resources into cultivating better SEO for their brand. “It trips all the formulas and algorithms. So you got to pay for advertising. You pay for leads or you pay for ad words and both get very costly.”

Things are changing within the legal realm, and lawyers like Perrone are attempting to navigate the shifting tide in unique ways, even when they get called into question.

“The legal industry is becoming an industry, and it’s going to continue to progress in that fashion going forward,” Perrone said.