They had one. She didn’t.
The company’s legal budget is a line item. Planned. Budgeted. Replenished. Their lawyers bill by the hour and the company pays by the quarter. It’s a cost of doing business. Like office supplies, but for making problems go away.
Her legal budget was her savings. Not a line item. Not replenished. Every hour of legal counsel was a month of groceries. Every motion filed was a family vacation that wouldn’t happen.
The legal system isn’t about who’s right. It’s about who can afford to find out. And the answer is always the institution, because the institution budgeted for this and the person didn’t.