Don't forget, BALPA officers are not lawyers. An outside law firm is retained to give appropriate advice on such things.
Any lawyer worth his or her salt would advise against taking a case to court if there were little chance of winning - that's a requirement of their professional status. The rogues will, of course, say it quietly and continue to take your money till you are broke.
HOWEVER, when the situation demands (and I am aware of cases where it does) a potential financial loss is well worth a paper victory because more important matters are at stake.
Dan Air was a long time ago and every person, dept, attitude etc at Balpa has changed since then.