Obviously, you'd be expecting to win the case, but litigation doesn't always go as planned. If I'm SmallCorp suing BigCorp, I may have one in house lawyer who i

Obviously, you'd be expecting to win the case, but litigation doesn't always go as planned. If I'm SmallCorp suing BigCorp, I may have one in house lawyer who is handling the litigation. SmallCorp Lawyer charges hourly rate X. BigCorp has a large legal team and put many times as many lawyer man-hours at rate X into the case, and somehow pulls out a litigation victory. There is always a non-zero risk of losing the suit. BigCorp doesn't have to worry as much existential risk if they lose, since the penalty of paying legal fees may not cripple them.