Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who rose to fame representing the pornographic film actress Stephanie Clifford and positioned himself as a crusading critic of President Trump and fierce advocate of women’s rights, was arrested in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of domestic violence, a spokesman for the city’s Police Department said.

The spokesman for the Los Angeles police, Josh Rubenstein, said Mr. Avenatti’s arrest had “stemmed from an incident on the Westside” of the city. Another department spokesman later specified that the episode had happened sometime late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning in the tony neighborhood of Century City, noting that a police report was subsequently taken.

Mr. Avenatti was arrested just after 2 p.m. Wednesday and booked into jail on a felony charge of “domestic violence with visible injury” about two hours later, the police said. Mr. Avenatti was released from jail about 5:30 p.m. local time after posting $50,000 bail.

He is due in court on Dec. 5.

In a statement provided to New York magazine and others, Ms. Clifford said that she was awaiting more information, but would find another lawyer if the allegations prove true.