The corporation did , in fact , intentionally seek to bankrupt me by forcing me to spend on legal fees . I saw that game really quick and knew I could n't play that game to win . I knew I had to learn to do it myself because I would never have enough money to fight them . I learned quickly and had some wins , but the bottom line is a per - se litigant does not have equal footing in our judicial system to obtain justice . ( Male , Manufacturing , US ) An effective legal strategy is an essential part of a successful whistleblowing campaign . As the above response indicates , it can be difficult where whistleblowing cases are complex ( see also Kenny , 2019 We tested for differences between countries in terms of legal costs reported and did not find significance . We note Fig . 1 Change in income as a result of disclosing , for those providing data . ( Note : 1.0 represents no change , while 0.5 represents a decrease by 50 percent in earnings ) that 48 people described having part of their legal fees waived by lawyers , paid by a union or receiving assistance from a whistleblower support group , but that costs were significant , nonetheless .