Was just having this conversation with a friend today. In a normal case, you could absolutely argue that Avenatti was violating his legal ethics by not zealously representing his client's interests. If he were the attorney for, say, one of the women accusing Weinstein or Cosby, it would be very unseemly for him to be such a media whore, especially on such tangential topics. But what are Daniels' interests here? It's not like her original NDA represented some cosmic injustice done to her. It just prevented her from telling her story. Avenatti has already rectified that situation (practically if not yet legally). In the meantime, he's gotten her (and himself, of course) a ton of press, which she has been successfully monetizing, while not doing anything to jeopardize her original legal case. On top of that, the more he sets his guns on Trump, the higher her profile becomes, which further increases her earning power. (I have also heard him make the argument that by being so visible in the media, he has forced the Trump team into a bunch of unforced errors, like Rudy's gaffe last week. Again, hard to argue with that.)
I'm not saying any of this is bad, nor that it's good. That's just how our tabloid culture operates. But I don't see how you can say that what he's doing has been bad for Stormy, either legally or financially. Nor do I see her complaining.
