Notary and Solicitors

What's the difference?

It's easy to confuse notaries and solicitors but there are key differences that will be explained in this article.  If you need a notary, we are here to help.   Read on to find out more.

What is a Notary?

A notary is a qualified lawyer specialising in certifying and authenticating legal documents commonly known as notarial acts.

A key difference between English notaries and solicitors is that a notary must remain independent to the transaction. This means, a notary can not act in anyone's favour in a transaction.

A notary's role is to remain neutral and to ensure that the documents are authentic, properly signed and legally valid in the foreign country where they are to be used.

Notarial services include:

• Witnessing signatures
• Certification of documents for international use
• Authenticating powers of attorney
• Acting as an impartial witness
• Witnessing statutory declarations
• Witnessing affidavits and sworn statements
• Assisting with documents in a foreign language
• Advising on Legalisation Requirements and Apostilles
• Electronic notarisation using Qualified Electronic Signatures and arranging e-Apostilles

Notaries have the best experience in foreign legal systems and the differing legal requirements that they throw up.

Did you know, Notaries Public are the third and oldest branch of the legal profession in the United Kingdom?

They are appointed and granted practising certificates by the Master of the Faculties and are regulated to provide notary services by the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

There are two representative bodies for notaries, the Notaries Society for general notaries and the Society of Scrivener Notaries for scrivener notaries.

What is a solicitor?

Qualified solicitors are legal professionals who generally give legal advice and represent clients in legal matters.

Their main objective is the protection of their client's interest.

Solicitor services include

• Contentious legal matters

• Real estate law

• Family law

• Drafting legal documents

• Representing clients in court and preparing papers for litigation

Solicitors in England and Wales are not automatically notaries and focus mainly on domestic matters.

Do you need a notary or a solicitor?

You will need a notary if you are dealing with a matter in a foreign country and you have been asked to obtain notary services to authenticate a document.

One of the most common roles of a notary is to authenticate a power of attorney for use overseas.

In this case the overseas person is relying on the English notary to certify that they have identified the person who is appointing an attorney to do things on their behalf.

That they have met them and ascertained that they wish to be bound by the document and certified that the person has signed the notarised document in the presence of the notary.

With this notarial certificate, the recipient of the document can be absolutely sure that the person has actually delegated decision making powers to the attorney.

are there similarities between a notary and solicitor?

A public notary and a solicitor share some similarities.

Strictly speaking, a notary can handle anything a solicitor can do except for contentious matters that is, preparing papers for court and representing clients in court proceedings.

In practice though, notaries generally tend to stick to their knitting and attend to notarial matters. Leaving solicitors to focus on legal work.  Some notaries are also solicitors, barristers, licensed conveyancers or legal executives but if they undertake notarial work, they must keep this work strictly separate from their other legal services. 

Both notaries and solicitors are commissioner for oaths along with barristers,  legal executives and licenced conveyancers as set out in under section 81 of the Solicitors Act 1974.   

Do you need notary public services?

Contact us today and an experienced notary will be on hand to guide you through whatever process you have been asked to engage in.

Our firm has been providing the services of a notary public since 2004 and are used to dealing with an array of international documents. 

We can advise you on what to do and what not to do. 

We are centrally located near Bond Street and Oxford Circus stations.

Give us a call now by tapping on our phone number +442074992605, email us notary@notarypublicinlondon.com or complete the contact form and one of our team will get back to you during office hours.

FAQs

Who is a notary in the UK?

A notary is a legal professional and qualified lawyer who authenticates documents for use in foreign countries. 

Who can notarise a document?

In England and Wales only a public notary can notarise documents.  This is set out in section 12 of the Legal Services Act 2007.