On Monday early afternoon, the mood around Dewey & LeBoeuf’s office tower at 1301 Avenue of the Americas was somber. There was a feeling of sadness, but also some attempts at forced banter.

As a line of a half-dozen red moving trucks pulled one by one around the corner to Dewey’s loading dock and staff entrance along 51st Street, a focal point for groups of Dewey employees and passersby out front was a large impressionistic painting of ousted chairman Steven Davis (pictured at left).