In the end, it may cost you thousands. It's not worth it just to win a point of pride. Usually, the only time it is really important to fight to the end is to get rid of a non-paying tenant. Even then, a settlement where you pay them to leave may be cheaper than paying even more to your own lawyer to fight to the bitter end. SPOA is working to make eviction laws fair.
Some landlords say they have good luck doing their own evictions.
The technicalities are rampant. You don't know them. Your tenant's free lawyer knows every one of those technicalities backwards and forwards. And you don't need just any old lawyer. You need a lawyer who is experienced with landlord-tenant cases.