> Under what statute is it illegal to request legal fees?

You can request anything you want? Granting it would be illegal.

An attorney asking the judge to break the law and award attorney fees is literally asking for something illegal in most circumstances. There are exceptions. (By illegal I mean contrary to law.)

It's funny that 4 people downvoted me instead of bothering to check Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_rule_(attorney%27s_fe...

Requesting and being granted legal fees are two different things.

The default "American rule" is that each party pays their own legal fees, unless there is a relevant fee shifting rule.