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Many jurisdictions outside the US do (much more readily) award fees so that the loser has to pay the winner's legal costs.

The disadvantage of it is that if you're just some guy against a BigCo, then instead of risking having to pay your own $50k lawyer bill you're potentially risking having to pay their $5M lawyer bill.

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What about capping fees at whatever the party having to pay spent on their legal team, so the party choosing to pay more expensive lawyers for more hours is taking the risk on that increased cost vs. the other, and the less you spend on your side the less you're liable to pay if you lose?

Fees can be capped by offering a settlement. The court will not allow you to ignore a reasonable settlement and then charge fees for work done after. “Reasonable” is defined by a better or similar outcome to what you got in the end by continuing litigation.

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