This is really an important issue. When you fight any war, you must play the chess game many moves in advance to know how you will win before your first salvo. The problem with fighting government is they always have a long term strategy to avoid antagonistic precedents, and they have very deep pockets to keep lawyers employed.
In hindsight, the best strategy would probably be to hire a lawyer to file for a jury trial, (which might cause government to settle out of court), then represent yourself in trial, claiming that there was no preponderance of evidence that could tie you to the fire, and that this is a classic David and Goliath case (juries don't like government Goliaths).