For better or for worse, we don’t receive electric shocks or another automatic punishment whenever we break the law. Stopping others from violating the law and your rights requires action on your part. You actually have to enforce those rights.

If you’ve ever tried saying to someone, “That’s against the law!” or “You’re violating my rights!” then you probably know that that doesn’t usually resolve the problem. If you want to enforce your rights, you often have to hire a lawyer and bring a lawsuit.

Bringing a lawsuit is grueling.

For those who have never retained a lawyer, the process is not simple. First, you conduct research on what type of lawyer might help you and who specifically you should contact. Second, you reach out to a lawyer, do intake, wait for a response and have a consultation. The first few lawyers likely will not be the right fit or may not be interested in taking on your case—requiring you to shop around and repeat the process. This is both time-consuming and emotionally exhausting.

Once you finally find a lawyer who you like and is willing to take on your case, you must agree to his or her fees, which on average range anywhere from $200 an hour for a solo practitioner to $1,600 an hour for a big law partner. From there, you commit significant time to be actively involved in the lawyer’s process of building a case. While sometimes lawyers facilitate quick settlements, a lot of litigation drags on for years—draining you both emotionally and financially.

So even where another party has obviously wronged you, taking corrective legal action is almost never quick and easy. You realistically will only go through this process if you have really been wronged and feel very strongly about righting the wrong, or the potential financial benefit is substantial enough to invest in what is usually a lengthy and expensive legal process.

Those who understand these realities—especially people and companies with greater power—can fearlessly flout the law.

Powerful players know they can get away with it.

Consider the numerous landlords who illegally keep security deposits. Legally speaking, any security deposit money not used for a proper purpose (generally unpaid rent and utility bills, penalties for breaking a lease early, cleaning and damage to the unit for greater than normal wear-and-tear) must be returned to a tenant at the conclusion of a lease term. When landlords refuse to comply with the law, many tenants attempt confrontation but are ultimately unsuccessful. Why? Because landlords know that a lawyer will not agree to help a tenant recover a security deposit worth somewhere between $500 and $3,000. The potential financial benefit for the lawyer would be negligible when such a small sum of money is at stake.

Employers also get away with many violations of employees’ rights. Let’s say a boss places his hands on an employee’s shoulders and asks about her dating life in a way that crosses the legal threshold for sexual harassment. There would be few, if any, sexual harassment lawyers raising their hands to take on the employee’s case. Why? Because relatively speaking, the violation is minor, and any settlement would not produce enough money to make the labor of litigating it worthwhile.

Or think about an employee with a disability who was denied a “reasonable accommodation” of a standup desk, to which he is entitled under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). An ADA lawyer might be willing to take legal action even over this small-scale violation, but it would not be worth it for the employee to pay the lawyer’s hourly fee and wade through the arduous process of litigation. Especially when the alternative of buying his own standup desk would be quicker, cheaper and simpler.

Lastly, think about the immense power that insurance companies hold over their policyholders. When a health insurance company misrepresents the law or language of its policy in order to deny a claim for an expensive but potentially life-saving treatment, the plan member has little course of action to overturn the denial. While most insurance companies have an internal appeals process, these processes are designed to be so complicated, drawn out and torturous that most people—especially sick people with less time and physical or mental energy—eventually give up. Once again, the insurance company wins despite flouting the law.

Unfortunately, many bad actors take advantage of the impracticalities of suing and become intentional, repeat offenders.

What aggrieved parties can do.

My intention is not to instill anxiety that your rights are far less protected than you previously imagined. I do, however, want to make you more aware of the practicalities of suing so that you can more rationally think through a course of action when your landlord, employer, insurance company, or other powerful party tramples on your rights.

Here are some alternatives to bringing a lawsuit. Small claims court is a less grueling option for financial disputes under a certain dollar amount. There, aggrieved parties take advantage of the enforcement power of the courts without taking on the expense of lawyers or lengthy litigation processes. A security deposit dispute, for instance, could be resolved in small claims court.

Many agencies can also help you enforce your rights without requiring you to hire your own lawyer. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) allows individuals to file claims for discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability. For some, filing a discrimination charge with the EEOC is simply the first step before bringing a lawsuit, but for others, the EEOC process actually brings about resolution between the parties. Additionally, a government agency like a state Department of Health can help aggrieved individuals attack improper health insurance denials, among other things, and a state or the federal Department of Labor can help workers enforce their rights under worker protection laws. Government processes, however, are notoriously slow and frustrating; they feel a lot different than retaining your own personal lawyer to fight for you.

Some non-profit organizations (as well as most big law firms) also offer pro bono services to low income individuals. For those eligible, this makes bringing a lawsuit much less onerous since it removes the expense of hiring a private lawyer. Of course, utilizing these services means you have far less choice in who represents you.

Class action lawsuits are also worth mentioning. Participating in a class action as one of many plaintiffs has helped numerous individuals enforce their rights against much more powerful players. It allows an individual to avoid the time-consuming and expensive aspects of filing his or her own lawsuit, but still offers the possibility of a legal remedy and significant reward.

Perhaps in the future, other pathways will be paved for resolving disputes that remain un-litigated for practical reasons. For now, the fastest and least expensive way to resolve a dispute is to resolve it informally—without lawyers or litigation. And when that or any of the above alternatives are not possible, consider whether the potential benefits of commencing suit might actually outweigh its costs.

Jennifer Shulkin is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School. She has served as a federal law clerk, Manhattan assistant district attorney and private white-collar criminal defense attorney. She resides in Washington, D.C.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.