Module 7

Your path: becoming a notary, appointment, building a practice and deciding whether it suits you

The ways of becoming a notary are among the most different in law. In some countries you become one after a university law degree, years of traineeship, a hard state examination and, if you are lucky, appointment to a vacant office, because the number of offices is limited. In others, you complete a short course, pass a simple test and are commissioned, and you may notarise in a spare hour at work. In some, you must be a lawyer first. This module sets out those routes, how people prepare, how they find work, what the career looks like and the trade-offs. It ends with the Role Explorer, which now includes the notary, and which compares roles by how you like to work. Nothing here is personal career advice, and the route in your country is set by its law and its professional body.

General education on the work of a notary across legal systems, using invented people, offices and cases. It is not legal or career advice. The acts a notary may perform, the form of certificates and deeds, the checks required, the reporting duties, the rules for documents used abroad and the routes into the profession differ between countries and change: check the rules that apply to you with the notarial authority and the profession.