リポジトリデザインパターン

├── Models
│     ├── User.php
│
├── Repositories
└── User
        ├── UserRepository.php
        └── UserRepositoryInterface.php

でこれからデータ取得ロジックはモーデルじゃなくて、リポジトリで実装した方が良いと思う。
a. UserRepositoryInterface定義

namespace App\Repositories;

interface UserRepositoryInterface
{
     public function findByName($name);
}

b. UserRepository実装

namespace App\Repositories\User;
use App\Repositories\UserRepositoryInterface;
use App\Models\User;

class UserRepository implements UserRepositoryInterface
{
    protected $user;

    /**
    * UserRepository constructor.
    * @param $user
    */
    public function __construct($user)
    {
        $this->user = $user;
    }

    public function findByName($name)
    {
        return $this->user->where('name', '=', $name)->first();
    }
}

c. AppServiceProviderに登録

namespace App\Providers;

use Illuminate\Support\ServiceProvider;

class AppServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
     /**
     * Bootstrap any application services.
     *
     * @return void
     */
     public function boot()
    {
       //
    }

    /**
    * Register any application services.
    *
    * @return void
    */
    public function register()
    {
        // User
        $this->app->bind(
        \App\Repositories\User\UserRepositoryInterface::class,
        \App\Repositories\User\UserRepository::class
        );
     }
}

d. コントロールで呼び出す

namespace App\Http\Controller\User;

use App\Repositories\User\UserRepositoryInterface;

class UserController extends Controller
{
     protected $userRepository;
     public function __construct(UserRepositoryInterface $userRepository)
     {
         $this->userRepository = $userRepository;
     }

     public function index()
     {
         return $this->userRepository->findByName($name);
     }
}