Solicitor Certification of Your Documents

We save you both time and money by offering a complete apostille service including certification of documents by one of our solicitors and a guarantee that all UK documents certified by our solicitors will be issued with a UK apostille.

We never overcharge

Not all documents need to be certified by a solicitor. We help you find out which of your documents need to be certified and which not, and we never charge you for services you don’t need.

Why choose our service?

We have professional solicitors working fast and correctly to evaluate and certify your documents. You will have your documents prepared for legalization faster than you think.
Our professional team has prepared thousands of documents for legalization. They know exactly what to do and how to prepare your documents.
Don’t know exactly how to get your documents correctly certified? Contact us and receive the best advice on how to contact a solicitor. Or use our full legalization service.
When researching the process of obtaining an apostille, you will usually see that documents need to be signed by a solicitor or notary public before being submitted for apostille. There are documents that don’t bear a public seal or signature and therefore need the certification of a notary or solicitor.

Among the documents that usually do not have a public seal or signature and need to be certified by a solicitor or a notary are:

  • Academic documents such as certificates or qualifications (original or copies may be certified)
  • A variety of company documents (original or copies may be certified)
  • Personal documents such as passport or driving license (copies are always signed)
  • Documents such as powers of attorney (normally original documents are witnessed)
  • Personal administrative documents such as wills or last testaments (original or copies may be signed)
  • Documents used in the legal field such as affidavits or declarations (original documents are witnessed)
  • Deed Polls (original or copies may be signed)
  • Other commercial documents such as contracts, resolutions or agreements (original or copies may be signed)
  • And many others.

The main difference between a solicitor and a notary public is that a solicitor needs to take another qualification to become a notary public. This is why most notaries are also solicitors. A notary public has the primary function of certifying and authenticating signatures and documents.

Another difference between notaries and solicitors are the fees which vary considerably. While a solicitor’s fee ranges typically from £10 to £25 for signing a document, a notary’s fee may vary from £50 to £100 for the same task.

The role of a solicitor is to verify the content of a document or witness while it is being signed and sign under a statement that explains what is he certifying. A document can be certified:

  • As a copy
  • As an original, usually when the solicitor is a witness while the document is being signed

The elements that make a certification valid are:

  • the correct statement of the solicitor explaining what is being certified about the document
  • the solicitor’s signature,
  • the date of certification

There are cases in which your document must be signed by a notary public and the signature of a solicitor is not useful. It is the case of some powers of attorneys. For basic certification, the signature of a solicitor should be enough.

In a situation where you are not sure which one you need, a notary or solicitorcertification, the best solution is to ask the person which is requiring you to obtain an apostille for your document.

The element being certified by the solicitor or notary public varies depending on the type of document being certified and the role it will have. A solicitor or a notary public can certify:

  • That the document has been signed in their presence (the case of powers of attorney)
  • That a copy of a document has the same content as the original by stating that the copy is ‘a true copy of the original document.
  • For advice on how to certify your documents correctly, contact our Apostille Service and find out everything about how your document should be processed. You can also request for your document to be certified by one of our solicitors.

A document submitted for apostille must bear the stamp of a recognized body or the signature of a public official or solicitor without which it can’t be legalized. Some documents, such as birth or marriage certificates or court documents, that already bear the required stamp/signature, don’t need this certification.

Among the documents that need to be certified by a solicitor in order to be accepted for apostille are academic certificates, personal documents, company documents etc. that are not usually signed by a recognized public official.