A complete redesign of coghlanandwelsh.com — rebuilt to the standard of the world’s leading law firms, in the firm’s own navy and gold, with the firm’s own voice. This proposal presents the new design, what changes, the value it creates, and the investment required.
Coghlan & Welsh has practised law in Bulawayo since 1903 — more than 120 years of continuous service, including a full century as the Bulawayo City conveyancers. Yet the first impression most clients and referrers now get is not the boardroom or the letterhead — it is coghlanandwelsh.com. The current site, built on a heavy WordPress template, opens on a slider that loads as a blank screen, spreads the firm across eight thin pages, and buries the century of standing in body text.
We have redesigned and rebuilt the full website — six consolidated pages — drawing on the design language of the world’s leading firms: commanding serif typography, a confident navy-and-gold palette applied with discipline, visible trust signals, and a clear consultation path on every page.
Nothing about the brand changes. The firm’s logo is untouched and the existing identity — the deep navy, the gold, the est. 1903 mark — is applied exactly as-is, only more consistently and more confidently.
What changes is everything around it: structure, typography, messaging, mobile experience, speed and conversion. The result is a website that carries the weight of a century — and turns the referral moment into a consultation.
This is not a mock-up. It is the actual rebuilt home page, embedded below. Scroll inside the frame, hover the cards, and switch between desktop and mobile views.
The full redesign covers all six pages — Home, About Us, Practice Areas, The Team, Cases & Insights and Contact — delivered with this proposal.
Open the full build in a new tab →
All six pages, fully navigable — best experienced full-screen, and on your phone.
A side-by-side view of every meaningful design decision, and the reasoning behind it.
| Area | Current website | Proposed redesign |
|---|---|---|
| First impression | ✕The home page opens on a Slider Revolution carousel that loads as a blank black screen before the first slide appears — the firm’s opening statement is a wait. | ✓Instant authority. A navy hero that renders immediately: “Established 1903 · Bulawayo”, the firm’s promise in commanding serif type, and two clear actions. |
| Performance | ✕A heavy plugin-driven template; the slider alone is megabytes of script and imagery, and the page can freeze mid-load on modest connections. | ✓Hand-built pages of roughly 30KB of code each — no plugins, no builders. Fast on Bulawayo office connections and mobile data alike. |
| Heritage | ✕“Established 1903” and “over 120 years” appear in body paragraphs; a century as the Bulawayo City conveyancers is a passing mention. | ✓Heritage leads: an est. 1903 badge in the hero, a stat band (1903 · 120+ years · 7 practice areas · 100 years as the City’s conveyancers) on every visitor’s first screen. |
| Navigation | ✕Eight menu items including thin single-purpose pages (Cases, Did You Know, Social Responsibility) that fragment the story. | ✓Six consolidated pages with a sticky header and a persistent “Request a Consultation” button on every screen. |
| Practice areas | ✕Seven areas shown as icon cards with one-line summaries, each linking to sparse pages. | ✓One authoritative Practice Areas page with the full description of each department — including the conveyancing century — anchored for direct linking. |
| The team | ✕Names, titles and photographs only — no structure separating leadership from administrative staff; no biographical detail. | ✓A structured Team page: partners and associates presented as leadership with room for biographies, and the professional staff honoured as the engine room. |
| Cases & insights | ✕Nine strong case studies and a “Did You Know” blog sit in two separate, undifferentiated lists. | ✓A single Cases & Insights page presenting the firm’s matters as numbered case studies — proof of a century of precedent, organised to be read. |
| Mobile experience | ✕The desktop layout compressed; the slider is punishing on mobile data. | ✓Mobile-first and data-light — built for the phone screens most Zimbabwean clients and referrers will actually use. |
| Conversion | ✕One contact form, on one page; no click-to-call, no consultation path elsewhere on the site. | ✓A consultation CTA band on every page, click-to-call phone numbers throughout, and a structured enquiry form that routes by case type. |
| Search visibility | ✕Minimal metadata on a plugin-heavy build. | ✓Per-page titles and meta descriptions, semantic structure and fast load times — aimed at searches like “law firm Bulawayo” and “conveyancers Zimbabwe”. |
A website redesign is not a cosmetic expense. For a professional-services firm it is a revenue asset. Here is where the return comes from.
Legal work in Zimbabwe travels by referral. When a referred client checks the firm online, the new site confirms the recommendation instead of undermining it.
The redesign presents Coghlan & Welsh with the same visual confidence as the international firms its work stands beside.
A hundred years as the Bulawayo City conveyancers is an almost unrepeatable differentiator — the redesign puts it in the stat band on the first screen.
Fast, semantic pages with proper metadata, aimed at the searches that matter: “law firm Bulawayo”, “conveyancers Zimbabwe”, “labour lawyer Bulawayo”.
Data-light pages, click-to-call numbers and thumb-friendly navigation that respect mobile data.
Clean, modern code with no template lock-in — ready for partner biographies, an insights programme, or a client portal whenever the firm is.
One once-off fee for the complete redesign, with an optional monthly retainer to keep the site fast, secure and current.
Once-off project fee
50% deposit (US$175) on commencement, balance on go-live. The site is already built — go-live in under two weeks of approval. Professional photography of partners and chambers can be arranged and is quoted separately.
The site stays fast, current and secure — without occupying your staff
The build fee is US$350 with or without the retainer. Month-to-month — begin at go-live or later, cancel any time on one month’s notice. Fees exclusive of any applicable taxes.
Sign-off on this proposal and chosen option; deposit invoice issued.
One partner-review round: final wording, team profiles, and any photography you wish to include.
SSL installed, contact forms wired, site deployed to your domain with all old URLs redirected.
Staff walkthrough, a plain-English editing guide, and the 30-day support window begins.
Approve the proposal and the new Coghlan & Welsh website can be live in under two weeks.