Todd Walker Branding Makeover

John Bowie, LawFuel publisher

Central Otago’s Todd Walker has decided it no longer wants to look like the firm you hurriedly Google the night before signing a sale-and-purchase agreement. The newly refreshed brand, announced in a media release, unveiled after a period of rapid expansion for the firm, signals a firm intent on showing the market it’s not just growing, but maturing into something sharper, cleaner and more confident.

The shortened name is deliberate and follows a practice by many firms looking for fewer syllables and a clearer image. The visual identity leans heavily into its Queenstown/Wānaka roots, which is an increasingly clever move in a legal market where every firm claims national capability but very few can claim genuine local soul.

Todd Walker is hanging its hat squarely on clarity, approachability and the kind of human connection most law firms talk about but rarely achieve.

Peter Sygrove, (pictured) the firm’s principal points out that the firm has grown fast and that clients need confidence, and the brand needs to keep up. In a market drowning in grayscale logos and “trusted advisors” clichés, that alone makes the rebrand notable.

Today’s Branding Arms Race

Branding is now an existential issue for law firms. As we’ve covered repeatedly on LawFuel — from the Clifford Chance rebrand to Freshfields’ rebrand last year, firms that treat brand as a logo rather than a strategic asset end up looking like relics in a profession that has suddenly discovered Photoshop and panic attacks.

Clients expect clarity and lawyers should expect differentiation. Google expects structured identity and strong signals too, particularly in an age of AI-driven search results. The firms that win are the ones that look, sound and behave like modern service businesses rather than dusty repositories of precedent.

Todd Walker’s refresh taps straight into that shift. It reinforces something the legal market still resists admitting out loud, which is that branding is something more than just cosmetic, but is also about competitive positioning and strategy.

Ignoring law firm brand equity is critical today where branding is more important than ever. Ignoring that single fact is something done at both the law firm’s peril, and at online traffic.