Attacking with shields? Who does that?

I recently found out that if equipped in right hand slot, shield can be uesd as a weapon. It deals much lower damage and attack is pretty slow. The only case I think this could be useful is if all other weapons suddenly break and are no longer usable without repair. But I just started, so I don't know much.

Is there some benefit to attacking with shields? Maybe there is some specific shield that is particularly good in role of a main weapon?

All shields deal strike damage, to which some enemies are more susceptible (skeletons). This might have a limited use early in the game when a weapon with strike damage might not be available/found yet. But frankly, a club can be bought from undead merchant pretty early on.

I've never found a reason to use a shield as main weapon.