The issue of attorneys under duress is something which can be brought up on appeals, but during a trial, is just something to play the shell game of swapping attorneys on.

I had been told of one terrorism case out of Eugene Oregon where the details were foggy on exactly who the lawyer was representing, but he shared a small office building with other lawyers, including one who was representing a friend of mine in an "assault" case.

So my friend was going to the office to sign some papers (the opposition was dropping charges in return for not getting sued and losing their football scholarship) and noticed parts of the building looked pretty tore up. Then there were contractors replacing the doors on one of the office, painters, and people who do repairs on burned property.

Apparently one of the lawyers was representing someone the feds did not like, so on a Friday, they got a warrant to search the law office for documents pertaining to any possible improper conduct in the case. On a Saturday, knowing the guy was off for the weekend and the place was empty, they did an explosive breach and dynamic entry on the building and office, confiscated files and computers (including files on several other cases that law firm was handling), and then waited until Monday to inform the lawyer in court that it was them who had trashed his office.

Then and there, he quit the case. The intimidation worked fully, since the damage to the building was also a warning to other tenant lawyers that they could face extreme difficulties in renting any offices if they were known to attract feds using explosive entry techniques in the buildings the lawyers rented. I tried to find more info on the case.

One of the many reasons a lot of jurisdictions allow lawyers to carry guns is the issue of government intimidation, where prosecutors quite often flaunt the fact that they are armed and will imply that as a negotiating factor in various issues from lawsuits to criminal plea bargains to even factoring what they feel like paying contractors for services to the local municipality.