Notary vs. solicitor explained for UK document legalisation

While preparing your documents for use abroad, you may encounter the need for notarisation or solicitor certification.

Between a notary and a solicitor, which professional is best placed to help you navigate this process? The distinction is important because while both are recognised legal professionals, they have different roles and qualifications.

This post will help you solve the notary vs solicitor dilemma, explaining what notaries and solicitors are, what they do, and how to choose the right one for your specific situation.

Here’s a quick comparison of notaries and solicitors by their primary areas of focus.

A notary is an internationally recognised legal professional who authenticates documents for use abroad. In England and Wales, they are appointed and regulated by the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Foreign authorities trust notarial acts because notaries serve the public as impartial witnesses, deterring fraud and undue influence during the signing of important documents.

Their primary duty is to the transaction itself, rather than to any specific party.

This impartiality ensures that your documents carry the necessary legal weight to be trusted outside the UK.

As part of their duty to the document and transaction itself, a notary ensures the exercise is above board by doing the following:

Also, a notary can certify the authenticity of existing signatures and stamps on a document, certifying it for international use.

A solicitor is a general legal professional focused on domestic law and practice. In the UK, they are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

You can use solicitors for a wide range of domestic legal matters, from property law to litigation.

While a notary’s primary duty is to the transaction itself, a solicitor’s duty is to you, their client. Therefore, you can also use a solicitor in contentious legal matters where you need to protect your specific interests.

Because they are legal generalists, what solicitors do is significantly broader, including:

That said, a solicitor’s signature and stamp will not carry as much legal weight as a notary’s if you intend to use your document outside the UK.

To help you decide which professional you need, here’s a summary of the main differences between a notary and a solicitor.

Contact us today to get your document translated and apostilled correctly the first time.

Although many jurisdictions accept documents notarised in the UK, the final step in preparing them for international use is often legalisation via an apostille certificate issued by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

However, for the FCDO to apostille your private or business documents, they must first be authenticated/certified by a notary or a solicitor.

Specifically, you’ll need a notary for many high-stakes legal or commercial documents, such as:

The legalisation process will involve getting your document notarised, submitting it to the FCDO for an apostille, and possibly getting embassy attestation if your destination country is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention.

While the legalisation process is multi-step, your involvement doesn’t have to be. You can leverage our end-to-end document legalisation services to get your documents certified/notarised and apostilled correctly the first time.

Request a custom quote, and we’ll send you a breakdown of our fees tailored to your specific legalisation requirements.

There are lower-stakes situations where a solicitor’s certification will be sufficient in the legalisation chain above.

For instance, you may use a solicitor’s certification for:

As a general rule, if the requesting authority simply asks you for a certified true copy of a document, a solicitor’s certification will likely be sufficient.

Can you go to a solicitor to get notarisation services? The answer is no because only a qualified notary can perform notarial acts.

Even though some notaries are also qualified solicitors, it’s essential to remember that the roles are separate. You can confirm if a legal professional is entitled to practice as a notary by searching the regulator’s website.

Costs for notarisation and solicitor certification vary widely because the legal professionals set their own rates. Generally, you can expect notaries to have higher rates than solicitors.

We are an FCDO-registered apostille facilitator that can manage the legalisation process on your behalf. Because notarisation and solicitor certification are key parts of the process, we maintain relationships with a vetted network of London solicitors and notaries to ensure efficiency and cost predictability.

Here’s a breakdown of our fees for document legalisation, including FCDO fees and the cost of notarisation/solicitor certification:

That said, you should also account for other costs, such as courier charges for delivering/returning your documents. To avoid any surprises, use our free instant apostille price calculator to get a complete breakdown of costs tailored to your specific document type, courier service, service speed, and more.

Ultimately, the notary vs solicitor decision will depend on three main factors:

Nonetheless, you don’t have to navigate the notary, solicitor, and apostille requirements alone. We’ve handled document legalisations bound for several destinations worldwide, and we can take the complexity out of the process for you.

Get a custom quote today to see the cost of using our end-to-end document legalisation services that include notarisation and solicitor certifications.

Here are answers to some commonly asked questions about notaries and solicitors.