Strong Arm of the Law: Mark Leventhal

A CLIENT RUSHED to Mark Leventhal, Esquire, desperate for help. He had knowingly broken the rules, and now he was paying for it. "Was it premeditated or heat-of-the-moment?" Leventhal probed, working out a strategy to handle the ramifications. "I didn't know it would happen until I walked into the gas station," the client replied.

With that, Leventhal knew his defense: Get the guy to pay for full- service from now on, so he isn't face to face with racks of chocolate-covered pretzels ever again.

Advising on snacking strategies isn't such a far cry from his previous career in international trade law, says Leventhal, who recently launched Leventhal Weight Loss (202-550-8638), a diet-coaching program targeting D.C.-area lawyers. But while lawyers help companies tip the scales of justice, he's helping lawyers tip the bathroom kind.

"There are a lot of overweight lawyers who need this service. By nature, they have a sedentary lifestyle, just sitting in the office writing briefs and doing legal research," says Leventhal.

During his years at a firm, his weight gradually drifted upward at a rate of a pound per month -- late nights meant free dinner (his former fave: sesame chicken from City Lights), wooing clients required wining and dining, and extensive travel threw good intentions out the window. A combination of Weight Watchers and long-distance running allowed Leventhal to drop 50 pounds, but throughout his struggle he wished there were a person holding him accountable.

That's exactly what Leventhal aims to be for his clients. "It's about raising consciousness. If they paid as much attention to what they ate as they did to their work, they'd be very successful," he explains.

He isn't a nutritionist or trainer (although free intro visits to one of each come with his packages), and he doesn't have a set plan other than "what works." He's available every day to talk over e-mail or on the phone at any hour, and once per week, many of his clients come by his office for an in-person chat and a checkup with high-tech body composition monitors.

As client Bob Yoches, 55, puts it, "It's as if you had a best friend at the firm you could talk to who wouldn't buy into your excuses and, bizarrely enough, you had to weigh yourself in front of him."

Since signing up with Leventhal in January, Yoches has steadily lost weight, even while eating out up to 10 times per week and traveling frequently to Asia. He credits the program with bolstering his willpower and teaching him to plan ahead when handling dinners abroad.

"It's sobering. You can lie to yourself. But you have to look Mark in the eye, so you will put down that snack," he says.

His plan works where other methods don't, Leventhal says, because it lets the clients' needs rule. He may suggest ways to make healthy living easier, but it's ultimately up to them.

"This plan has no magic in it. If you say something enough, you'll believe it. What he creates is an environment where, every day, you're talking about the importance of taking care of your self," says Tom Willcox, 45, who finished a four-week session with Leventhal and now keeps himself on track by thinking, "What would Mark say?"

Right now, Leventhal is saying quite a bit. Between juggling 15 clients and giving presentations at firms and bar associations to promote his business, he has a full plate, so to speak. "I thought I was working hard as a lawyer, but now I'm working 90 hours a week," he says.

But no matter how much time he's logging at the office, Leventhal is sure of one thing: He won't be ordering the sesame chicken.

Photos by Lawrence Luk for Express