I've had domestic violence lawyers in my PR class and the stories they've told are harrowing. This film clip at The Smoking Gun illustrates the point. A man attacks his ex-girlfriend in a court room when they are momentarily left alone.
Some of the DV lawyers have told my students that at the end of the legal matter they want to file a substitution of counsel to ensure that they don't have unending duties of indeterminate scope, but they fear that once the batterer receives notice that the victim's counsel has withdrawn, the batterer may feel less inhibited about resuming violence.