Ben M. Davidson’s friends were surprised to see him quoted in Bloomberg Businessweek’s cover story last month about the collapse of global law firm Howrey. Davidson, a former Howrey lawyer who has a three-attorney firm in West Los Angeles, was presented as an alternative to the big-firm model.
“I realized that I was really telling everyone I am not in a big firm and I am not going back, and a couple of my friends were surprised I made that decision,” he said.
But one revelation that he wasn’t expecting to see in print was his new workout regimen. The story said that “most mornings before heading to the office, he jogs on the beach.”
Davidson told the Business Journal that it was more like two to three times a week with a trainer, and that he had only been working out for five months after he’d “gotten in really bad shape.” The article prompted teasing from friends such as litigation legend Tom Nolan at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
“They emailed me and said, ‘You better look like you’re running on the beach the next time I see you,’” Davidson said with a laugh. “I didn’t expect to see that.”
The 44-year-old intellectual property attorney said he’s been forced to keep up the exercise routine because of the public disclosure.
“Once you put it in writing and it’s in Businessweek, you better really do it,” he said. “People will call you on it.”
Things Change
When the Hollywood Business Improvement District was formed in late 1996 and Kerry Morrison came to head it up, she didn’t exactly score cool accommodations at first. They stuck her in a windowless, green-carpeted office deep inside a building at Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. It seemed as if no one was around.
“I was extremely lonely,” she said.
But when she walked out to get lunch and some sunshine, she often got even more depressed.
“Hollywood was a dump back then,” she said, with few pedestrians or places to eat.
The office has moved a couple of times since. In recent years, the BID has been at bustling Hollywood and Vine Street in the Taft Building – where she has windows.
So Morrison groaned when she learned recently that she was going back to that original building – but only for this month – while the Taft gets some work done.
Surprise. The building now has lots of glass inside and plenty of street life outside. She’s in a WeWork co-working space and loneliness is no problem: She shares a cubicle with one colleague and three of her other colleagues crowd into a second one. Most of the other workers in the building are young and casual. Some even bring their dogs.
“It’s so completely different. The vibe is so cool,” said Morrison, 57. “Although I do feel like the momma.”
Staff reporter Alfred Lee contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].
