Mark Hinderks, managing partner of Stinson. (Courtesy photo)

The Am Law 200 firm known as Stinson Leonard Street since a 2014 merger has joined the cavalcade of law firms shortening their names, rebranding itself as Stinson.

The firm legally changed its name, going beyond some other recent law firm rebrandings. Managing partner Mark Hinderks said the new name was intended to illustrate the firm's commitment to presenting itself as a single unified entity in the wake of the combination between Kansas City, Mo.–based Stinson Morrison Hecker and Minneapolis-based Leonard, Street and Deinard.

Stinton's new logo.

He said that after surveying clients and constituents, the firm discovered that both groups already thought of it as Stinson.

“Most of the Am Law 200 is moving in the direction of single-named brands, or at least reduced-name brands, that are recognizable and memorizable,” Hinderks said. 

Just on Monday, Boston's Sullivan & Worcester announced it had rebranded itself as “Sullivan.” Other firms to truncate their names in recent months include Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (legally changed to Milbank), Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo (rebranded as Mintz), Much Shelist (Much) and Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott (now Bartlit Beck).

Stinson hired a Minnesota-based, women-owned branding agency to both evaluate the benefits of a name change and subsequently to develop a new logo, color palate and website to accompany the new moniker.

There was zero pushback, Hinderks said. ”Our board, which approved the implementation, was unanimous,” he said.

He added that the change was consistent with the firm's postmerger goal of integrating the constituent pieces.

“We didn't want to be a headquarters and satellite firm,” he said. “Instead, we have a distributed headquarters.”

Hinderks also acknowledged that the change could have been made sooner, but he explained that the initial focus following the merger was on how to unify the two previously distinct entities. The firm has also expanded into several new markets since the merger.

“It was appropriate to let a little bit of time go by to build that credibility in the marketplace, so our clients understand these are the things we stand for and that they should associate with our brand,” he said. 

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