(CNN) Renowned legal scholar Alan Dershowitz chastised attorney Michael Avenatti in a tense exchange Friday night, saying the combative lawyer who represents adult film star Stormy Daniels committed a legal ethics violation in a New York City restaurant.

Specifically, Dershowitz said by approaching the President's former attorney, Michael Cohen, in the restaurant without first seeking the approval of Cohen's counsel, Avenatti went too far, too fast.

"If you weren't given permission to have that conversation with Michael Cohen you may have to ... answer to an ethics committee," Dershowitz told Avenatti, while both men were speaking on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360."

Dershowitz was referring to reports that Avenatti pitched Cohen on working together against Trump at a chance dinner encounter last week, at Scalintella on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

But Avenatti said Dershowitz didn't know what he was talking about.

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