Hi Dan,
There is no inverter at all in the Unibody Macbook Pros. They use LED bars to light the display, instead of the older florescent tubes. Inverters "ramp up" the power from the circuit to provide higher voltages that are required for powering florescent tubes in CCFL LCD type displays. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCFL_inverter)
If you have worked on older MacBooks and feel comfortable soldering on the logic board, I would first look at this thread:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=972699
I know it is very long, but I used it to bring my mid 2009 pro back to life!!
The problem for me, and many others, was a blown fuse found in the display circuit. It is tiny (2mm X 4mm) and if blown will cause the backlight to not power on.
There are many companies on eBay that do the repairs, but at least test the fuse first!!
It might be scary to think about having to solder on the Logic Board, but read the thread, many of us have had major success!!
hope this helps!
hyde