He was Turleyās mentee during law school - he worked for Turley as a research assistant, he helped run Turleyās old legal clinic, and I believe he worked on some cases with Turley outside of law school as well.
As of 2018, they were still close enough that Avenatti would show up at most of Turleyās events, which is how I met him.
I still get along fine with Professor Turley, and Iāll probably see him next week when Iām back in DC - but I certainly wouldnāt consider myself a āprotegeā of his.