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In England and Wales, notaries public are normally qualified lawyers who undergo rigorous background checks to ascertain their good character, to ensure that their certifications can be relied upon throughout the world. On admission to the profession, all notaries swear an oath that they will not attest any document which has ‘fraud or violence’, so that the genuineness and authenticity of documents certified by English and Welsh notaries is trusted worldwide.

English and Welsh notaries are specifically trained to oversee the proper execution of documents for use abroad, particularly for compliance with the formality requirements of deeds, sworn statements such as affidavits, statutory declarations and other documents such as powers of attorney, so that these may be accepted for use abroad.

All notaries in England and Wales are also commissioners for oaths, which means they can administer affidavits (oaths sworn on a holy book or affirmed) and statutory declarations, and Notaries in England and Wales are regulated through the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

English and Welsh notaries can also be solicitors or barristers, but they do not need to be dual-qualified in this way (whereas all Scottish-qualified solicitors are also notaries).

All of our notaries are qualified to practise throughout England and Wales competent in several foreign languages, so that they can issue certification directly in Italian, Greek, Spanish, Romanian, German, Polish and French, which can save you translation costs.

With the exception of affidavits sworn on oath or affirmed and statutory declarations, notaries in England and Wales are almost exclusively needed where a document has been drafted by a civil law lawyer or notary, and the English notary needs to certify the identity of the signatories and the valid execution of the document in full compliance with the local and foreign formalities (e.g. initialling on every page for France, full signature on every page in the notary’s presence for Greece, legible signatures for Italy).

If you have been sent a document by your lawyer who is based outside of the UK or advising on a transaction taking place outside of the UK, ask your adviser if you need a local English/Welsh notary to certify your documents.

All of our notaries are qualified to practise in all of England and Wales.

We see clients in our offices in the West End, Marylebone, Mayfair, Westminster Victoria and the City of London but can also attend your offices or your residential address to meet you if this is more convenient. Our fees for meeting clients externally are calculated based on the travel time and assuming that the meeting will not last longer than 30 minutes, and start at £130 per hour including travel to and from the appointment from our office, as well as travel costs.

An apostille is a sticker affixed to the underside of the notarial certificate, sealed and signed by an officer of the FCDO, which confirms the Notary’s seal, signature and current practising status of the Notary and validates the document to be used abroad pursuant to the 1961 Hague Convention.

To have the document apostilled, we need to first take it to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), which is the only institution in the UK which can issue and affix the apostille. The FCDO can only affix an apostille to a document bearing the original wet-ink signature, stamp or seal of a professional on their register of signatures–most notaries public and officials at HMRC, the General Registry Office and Companies House have their signatures and/or seals and stamps registered with the FCDO so that these signatures, stamps and seals can be apostilled.

Effectively, receiving institutions in foreign countries which have ratified the 1961 Hague Convention must accept documents notarised by an English/Welsh notary bearing apostilles as if they had been notarised by a notary in their own country.