[quote=Turnbull
Re. Hagen: One of the nice things about being a Don (especially the most powerful Don) is that you can do just about anything you want to--including naming a college graduate/lawyer/German-Irish/non-muscle person as your consigliere. [/quote]


OR letting your personal feelings for a step son get in the way of cold hearted judgment. Tom was trained as a lawyer, and not as a crime boss. Sonny was the heir apparent. Even Michael was skeptical about a non-Sicilian consigliere way before he got into the family business. He even mentioned it to Kay during the wedding scene.