Lawyers are obligated to provide their clients informed, competent representation, yet the handling of battered defendants' cases too often fails to satisfy this standard. The goal of this Article is to inspire improved legal practice and scholarly inquiry with regard to battered women defendants, whether motivated by the desire to better serve clients, the threat of liability, or the embarrassment of ignorance. Domestic violence must be understood as a planned pattern of coercive control that may involve physical, sexual, or psychological abuse rising to the level of torture as understood in human rights discourse. An understanding of domestic violence and human rights paradigms shifts battered women's calls for justice away from victim-blaming pathologies toward a more accurate view of the systemic oppression of women evidenced in individual relationships. Domestic violence crimes are overwhelmingly perpetrated by men against women: therefore, this article focuses on that dynamic.