Isn't This Called... Blackmail?

Celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred has insinuated her way into the Tiger Woods saga:

High-profile attorney Gloria Allred, who was to make a statement about Uchitel's relationship with golf's No. 1 player, said it was called off because of “unforeseen circumstances.” Allred said she would have no further comment.

However, Allred's daughter, Lisa Bloom, said the only conclusion is that her mother struck a deal with the Woods camp. Bloom, an attorney who worked with her mother for nine years and now is as a legal analyst for CBS, said Friday on The Early Show that she has never known Allred to cancel a news conference.

Bloom said that can only mean a confidential settlement was struck, which she estimated at being worth “at least a million dollars.”

“I know exactly how she operates,” Bloom said.

I don't say "celebrity lawyer" as a compliment. Most "celebrity lawyers" are interested principally in their own fame and fortune, shying away from anything that would resemble actual legal practice (let alone legal ethics). About the best thing a client of a typical "celebrity lawyer" can do for herself is to change lawyers.

Call it negotiations leading to a "confidential settlement", if you will. But what's described sounds to me like a classic shakedown.