With the cost of lawyers being exorbitant in most cases, what alternatives are there for people who are willing to pay a reasonable amount for help navigating the process of arbitration?
Presumably I can hire anyone to provide information and assistance, but, in the case of California arbitration, can a non-lawyer legally provide advice or counsel?
You can legally hire anyone you want, because the legal restriction is on the person being hired. Unauthorized practice of law is illegal in California (and elsewhere). The statutory leverage is here, which imposes penalties for the unauthorized practice of law. It is possible that you can find a law-breaker who will "help" you. The difficult part is finding a law-obeyer who can be of any use to you: the difficulty stems from the lack of a sharp definition of "practice of law". It may may or may not be illegal for a non-attorney to inform you that an arbitration agreement is binding (etc.). If providing such simple factual information is deemed, in California, to be practice of law, then only an attorney licensed in California can legally provide that information. You would need an attorney familiar with case law pertaining to UPL to give a competent judgment regarding what level of information a person can legally give you regarding arbitration. It's simpler, therefore, to just hire an attorney to deal with your arbitration issue.
California allows representatives who are allowed to to represent in arbitration in their home jurisdiction (which can be non-lawyers in some) to represent you in international arbitration.
For domestic arbitration, this is legal practice and requires a California license.
