Thinning Washington's Herd of Lawyers
Now Leventhal runs marathons and makes a living coaching other lawyers to adopt a trimmer profile.
(Courtesy Mark Leventhal)
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About two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight. There are about 46,000 lawyers practicing in the District. If one applies the national overweight rate to that population, which is already more predisposed than the general public to carb-heavy Capital Grille dinners and catered chicken-salad sandwich lunches at the office, that would mean the number of D.C. lawyers who are too heavy tops 30,000.
That's a lot of fat-cat lawyers. To Mark Leventhal, it's a big business opportunity. The former international trade lawyer and dropper of 50 pounds recently hung up his briefs to launch Leventhal Weight Loss, which aims to coach overweight lawyers to more-healthful lifestyles. Leventhal even pledges that this can be done without deserting the Capital Grille.
"These people are very intelligent," Leventhal said of his potential client base. "In theory, they know they have to eat better."
But with 80-hour workweeks and schmooze sessions over carbs, what lawyer worth his $500 an hour has time for theories? That's where Leventhal comes in. He is a certified executive coach, and he cut his teeth in weight-loss strategies while working part time for Weight Watchers, which helped him drop his weight. Leventhal is somewhat of a Weight Watchers celebrity, having been featured in the company's magazine under the headline "Marathon Mark."
For what he calls an introductory offer of $99 a week for 52 weeks, Leventhal coaches lawyers face-to-face on making better eating decisions and working in exercise around oral arguments. (Phone rates are $74 -- again, that's an introductory offer.) He will even meet lawyers at their favorite restaurants to hold their hands through their orders.
"Each week we have an inspirational and motivational meeting to discuss how things are going overall and how we may improve," Leventhal's Web site says. "We have this meeting when it is convenient for you -- even at 2 AM, when you may be driving home from work, or just wrapping up your brief."
-- Michael S. Rosenwald
