Before Todd ever represented a contractor in a dispute, he managed a ground-up commercial build himself.
In 2006, Todd opened a restaurant in Delavan, Wisconsin. New construction, built from the ground up. He served as his own general contractor, coordinating with architects and restaurant designers to develop his vision, managing the trades, and overseeing every phase of the build. He learned firsthand how projects fall behind schedule, go over budget, and create disputes between people who started with the best intentions.
That experience never left. Todd has continued working on construction projects over the years, including managing full residential renovations and completing significant work entirely by himself. Gutting and remodeling bathrooms, installing flooring, building a custom sauna, and fabricating custom cabinetry. He knows what a construction schedule actually looks like. He knows what happens when scope creep isn't addressed early. And he knows what it feels like to deal with subcontractors who don't show up, change orders that weren't documented, and payment disputes that could have been avoided with better contract language.
When Todd enrolled at Marquette Law School, construction law was the only path that made sense. He understood the language, the process, and the problems. He started practicing in 2015, and in 2021, founded Brand Law to focus exclusively on what he knows best: construction and real estate disputes.
Construction disputes don't exist in a vacuum. They involve title issues, purchase agreements, insurance coverage, and property rights. Over the years, Todd's practice expanded into real estate law because representing clients in construction matters means understanding how all of those issues connect.
While Todd would prefer to help his clients prevent disputes before they start through contract drafting, project planning, and early negotiation, the reality is that most clients come to him when something has already gone wrong. A payment dispute. A project that's fallen apart. A mechanics lien. A real estate transaction that went sideways. His job is to fix the problem if possible, or position his clients for the best outcome when litigation is necessary.
Construction and real estate law are not something Todd handles occasionally. It is all he does.
Over the course of his practice, Todd has recovered millions of dollars for clients in complex construction and real estate matters. He has successfully defended a general contractor against a construction defect claim resulting in a $1.5 million recovery, secured more than $400,000 for a homeowner in a dispute with a restoration contractor following a fire loss, and forced city-mandated mold testing and remediation in an HOA dispute that enabled a homeowner to return to their residence after being displaced for over a year due to safety concerns.
Todd runs a solo practice, and that's a deliberate choice. When you hire Todd, you get Todd. Not an associate, not a paralegal handling your case while he moves on to the next one. He answers his own phone. He gives clients his cell number. And he keeps you in the loop at every step, in plain language, without the legal jargon that makes people feel like they need a translator to talk to their own attorney.
Todd is licensed to practice in Illinois and primarily represents clients throughout Chicago, Cook County, DuPage County, Lake County, and Will County, though he has handled matters in other counties across the state as well.
When Todd isn't practicing law or working on a construction project, he's usually spending time with his wife and their two kids, who are 9 and 11. They've been married 15 years and live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Todd is a serial home improver (occupational hazard), enjoys traveling and a good TV series, and has been playing fantasy football since 1993, before there was an internet, submitting lineups by phone and calculating stats from the Tuesday newspaper.
