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44 Ne. J. Legal Stud. 1 (2024)

handle is hein.journals/neastjol44 and id is 1 raw text is: Page 1 / Vol. 44 / 2024 / Art. 1 / North East Journal of Legal Studies WHEN LEGAL SYSTEMS CLASH: WHY FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS FALL PREY TO UNSCRUPULOUS NOTARIES PUBLIC AND WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO PREVENT IT by Victor D. Lopez, J.D., Esq.* I. INTRODUCTION United States citizens and long-term residents usually seek the services of a notary public when they need to have a signature authenticated in a document that requires it or when they need to have a document that is required to be executed under oath. And, although they may be largely unaware of the actual limited powers granted to notaries public under each state's law, it is highly unlikely that they will turn to a notary public for legal advice or representation in the mistaken belief that every notary public is also a highly trained lawyer. Alas, immigrants from most countries around the world whose legal systems are based on the dominant civil law rather than the much less prevalent common law system adhered to by the United States and most former British colonies have a very different view of the powers, competencies, and training of notaries public. In civil law jurisdictions, notaries are generally not only lawyers, but usually lawyers with significant additional training beyond their law degrees who must go through a very rigorous vetting process that often includes both competitive exams and internships supervised by a notary public.1 In sharp contrast, there are 4.4 million notaries in the United States according to the National Notary Association (NNA).2 And the requirements for becoming a U.S. notary public are extremely modest: In general, Notary applicants must be 18 years old and a legal resident of the state with no criminal record.3 At present only California, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania require training as a prerequisite to becoming a notary public, and Delaware requires *Cypres Family Distinguished Professor in Legal Studies, Frank G. Zarb School of Business, Hofstra University. The author gratefully acknowledges the summer research grant that facilitated his research and writing of this paper.

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