The strength of your claim will likely depend on the specific wording of the contract and circumstances of employment. For example, are they shares, or options that required extra exercise steps/payments at certain times? Exactly what language is used to describe the vesting? (It seems a long shot that you'd be due the full 5000 shares if your employment clearly ended before the liquidity/vesting event: the whole point of vesting is to curtail the equity in the hands of those who have quit or been fired. But conversely, a true year of vesting means something was due you.)<p>But, semi-anonymous commenters on the internet are not the help you need. You need competent legal advice.<p>You could get this from a lawyer in private practice, but also perhaps a legal clinic (often associated with law schools) or perhaps any employee-protection government agency in your or the company's jurisdiction.<p>Note that while you're shopping for a lawyer, you'll often get 30+ minutes of their help for free, as they find out if the case interests them, and they discuss what steps are possible, at what costs, and to what benefit. It is very beneficial to talk to multiple lawyers at this stage: you may be amazed how wildly different their recommendations are, from the same documents and core facts, based on their varying styles and expertise. (As a non-expert yourself, engaging the first one with a good story is a big mistake. Picking one from among 5+ that you've talked to, because in comparison he had the most insight, is better.)<p>Get together your paperwork – especially the contract and any other key documents demonstrating your employment relationship (such as key dates where it began/changed/ended). Also, type up a more detailed timeline of relevant events with exact dates, involved people, and agreements/document-excerpts. (Perhaps that's just a page or two.)<p>Then, use that to shop around. Even if your first few inquiries are to the wrong kind of firms – by specialty or size – they'll then suggest more appropriate alternatives.<p>Offer to email the contract & timeline to any professional who wants details before they confer with you. You'll learn a lot from these discussions even before you're paying anyone on the clock – if it ever comes to that. You'll probably even want to improve the timeline once your first few conversations help focus your attention on the key aspects.<p>And if the case is really strong – the plain language of the contract and typical understanding of your tenure means you're due shares – it may just take a strong letter from a credible attorney to receive a settlement.