I'm doing exactly this at the moment. I'm in Europe. My lawyer says that there's probably not going to be any gain in it for me unless the company will cave and agree to some sort of severance. I don't have my hopes up, but I'm willing to take them to court just to expose their bullshit in front of the other people still working there in good faith.

You could, but the advantage of quitting is that it's on your terms--you can potentially line up another job prior to quitting.

In countries with strong labor law, you really need to do something that will taint your CV, and kill the chances of a proper recommendation letter.

So not really.

It's often preferable to find a new job when you still have one than to be randomly dismissed and need to scramble.

Potential downsides to getting fired vs quitting:

* Company may deem you ineligible for future re-hire * You may have lost the opportunity to have a good reference * Lack of control of timing * Embarrassing call with manager/HR

I don't see what upside there is to getting fired deliberately? In my location you aren't eligible for unemployment benefits if you are fired for cause.