“So then, how does Cohen determine when a mis-alignment occurs?”
He doesn’t. Once you’ve sold your soul to the devil your life is over. Unlike a normal client/attorney relationship, where the attorney serves the client, this relationship is reversed. Cohen is now a pawn, serving Lanny Davis and his masters. Cohen sold his freedom of action for “free” legal service. Now he is paying dearly. Once he is no longer useful, he will be discarded. At age 52 he has a number of years of misery ahead of him.
When is someone going to ask the question: whom is paying Davis legal bills?
You’re right. The ‘mis-alignment’ occurred the second he accepted Davis as his attorney.