My thought was that for the small claims system to work, where citizens are allowed to bring and litigate cases without the expense of an attorney, because many litigants cannot afford one, and then to allow someone to purposely bring in a "high price" attorney, and expect to collect fees on it, certainly would defeat the whole purpose of litigating in small claims.
I have watched a "People's Court" case, where they follow the laws of the state involved, one litigant did bring an attorney, but the attorney was not allowed to speak, for the reason that it was not permitted for that state. What state it is, I don't recall now.

