Why Become a Notary Public?

It was a pleasure to be invited to the Sole Practitioners Group annual conference in Vienna and to be able to speak about the value of becoming a notary public.

In my talk to the conference, I quoted from a recent report on legal regulation prepared by Professor Stephen Mayson of University College London i. In his report at paragraph 5.7.5 he said “notaries perform important public duties, in relation to both domestic and international matters. They verify the capacity of their clients to enter a transaction, confirm the identity of clients, prepare and authenticate various legal instruments, verify transactions, sometimes take evidence, and meticulously record all of the relevant information.” He added the following: “the reliance that parties to (particularly) commercial - and often international - transactions can place on notarised documentation allows trade, and the resolution of disputes, to be undertaken with great confidence or convenience.”

The report went as far as to recommend that notary should, in the future, fall outside of the regulatory framework applicable to the other legal professions such as solicitor and barrister, due to their unique functions.

Those quotes give a flavour of what is involved in being a notary public. Those who qualify find that they are engaging in new areas of law. They rapidly gaining experience of foreign jurisdictions and of the differing requirements that those jurisdictions have, particularly in the corporate field.

Sole practitioners are ideally suited to training to become notaries public. Solicitors in multipartner practises often find that it is very difficult to persuade the partnership to either allow them the time necessary or to make available the funds to train. You as sole practitioners only have yourself to satisfy. Certainly, when it comes to the training, it is not cheap. I estimate the costs associated with training over a two-year period will be some £10,000. The training will also involve a commitment, principally the two-year postgraduate diploma course which all prospective notaries have to take, and which is run by University College London. Most of the course is online, but there are weekend workshops over the two years. The first year will concentrate on Roman law as an introduction to the civil law system and on private international law, sometimes called conflict of laws. satisfying the Qualifications Board that you should be exempt from further study in any of these subjects. A certificates exemption is necessary in order to be able to book the UCL course iii .

Once you have completed the course there remains a short office practise course to undertake. From there you take the oath as a notary and apply for your faculty. The first two years of practise have to be supervised, and you will need to find another reasonably local notary of at least five years standing to agree to be your supervisor. This is not onerous and requires you to meet with your supervisor every six months or so.

Becoming a Notary has so many benefits. As well as the income, which may be quite significant depending on where you are, you will have a whole new raft of clients coming through your door, and new aspects of law to consider. If you have another language, you will find it put to very good use. Clients being able to access a notary and your ability to interact with foreign lawyers using their own language is important for access to justice. You will not regret taking the step on the road to being a notary public.

Julian Gibbons MA Notary Public, President of the Notaries Society.

Your first step on the road to becoming a notary public is to demonstrates to the Faculty Office (the regulator) that you have acquired basic knowledge in the core subjects of public and constitutional law, property, contract, law of the European Union and equity and trusts ii. In addition, there are three professional subjects which are conveyancing, company law and wills probate and administration. Solicitors in multipartner practises get an automatic pass on the first five subjects. However, as a sole practitioner it is very unlikely that you will have much trouble in i Stephen Mayson, Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation, CENTRE FOR ETHICS AND LAW (2018), www.ucl.ac.uk/ethics-law/publications/2018/ sep/independent-review-legal-services-regulation (last visited Jul 5, 2023). ii Rules and Requirements for Notaries – The Faculty Office, www.facultyoffice.org.uk/notaries/rulesgoverning-notaries/ (last visited Apr 4, 2023). iii University College London, Notarial Practice Course, UCL FACULTY OF LAWS (2017), www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/ study/continuing-professional-development/notarialpractice-course (last visited May 11, 2023).