A Michigan federal judge had to tell a grown lawyer to stop slapping a giant cartoon dragon wearing a snazzy suit on every page of his court filings like he was trying to sneak in clips from his published manga about a dragon lawyer.
To be fair, there is a logical, if absurd, reason for a lawyer to watermark his court filings with a ridiculous cartoon Dragon. Jacob A. Perrone is head of an East Lansing, Michigan-based law firm called “Dragon Lawyers.” Sounds like a Yu-Gi-Oh! card, but it is, allegedly, a real legal operation.
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You don’t have to imagine how inappropriate it is to watermark a legal document about a woman who claims she was denied life-saving medical care in jail with an illustration of a stern yet majestic purple dragon, arms crossed, wearing a custom-fitted suit. You can see it for yourself.
Lawyer Used a Purple Dragon Logo on Legal Docs. The Judge Was Not Impressed.
Sir, there’s just something about the cartoon dragon lawyer picture that’s taking the wind out of your argument’s sails. Have you, instead, considered a big-titted wench lawyer? Or, perhaps, a wizard paralegal? You know, something that would be more appropriate for a modern courtroom?
Federal Magistrate Judge Ray Kent was not amused. “Use of this dragon cartoon logo is not only distracting, it is juvenile and impertinent. The Court is not a cartoon,” said Judge Kent, mere moments before coming up with a brilliant idea for a cartoon about a dragon lawyer.
Perrone, when reached by The New York Times, explained that he liked Game of Thrones and “people like dragons.” He didn’t commission the image of the Dragon lawyer, and thankfully, he didn’t draw it himself, only to be utterly devastated by the public humiliation of it becoming a national story. He says he bought it for $20 from an online image shop.
Perrone agreed to remove the images from this particular set of legal documents and says he’s going to be a little bit more judicious about its usage from here on out. But he also says that overall, as a marketing mascot, the Dragon stays.
And who can blame him? After all this free publicity, it wouldn’t be surprising if, within the next few years, a handsome dragon lawyer mascot is springing off of trampolines to slam between-the-leg windmill dunks at halftime of Pistons games.
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