Steps for New Lawyers to Become a Notary Public

“I am a new lawyer and I don’t know what to do or where to start in my practice.” “I am used to being just a student bombarded with oral recitations, written exams and assignments. However, now that I’m a lawyer, I need to act like one. Thus, I need to practice my profession.” These are the common thoughts of the new bar passers.

Hey, don’t you worry! There are different choices you can make in law practice. You can be a corporate lawyer, a government attorney, a court decongestion officer, a law firm associate or a self-employed practicing notary public.

Today, let us deal on the idea of you wanting to start your own law office and become a Notary Public because most new lawyers would think that it is a starting point of their career since all public documents in the Philippines require notarization.

The following are the STEPS ON HOW TO APPLY FOR A NOTARIAL COMMISSION:

1. Prepare the required documents for your petition.

These are the following:

📜Certificate of Membership in the Philippine Bar from the SC Office of the Bar Confidant;

📜Certificate of No Pending Administrative Case from the Office of the Bar Confidant;

📜Certificate of Good Moral Character and Clearance issued by your Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) chapter;

🔖IBP official receipt evidencing payment of membership dues; if you are a lifetime member, a copy of your Certificate of Life Membership;

📃MCLE Certificate of Compliance; but if you are a new lawyer, you are still exempt from MCLE compliance so you can just state that in your petition;

🔖Professional Tax Receipt (PTR);

✅ NBI clearance;

✅ RTC and MTC clearance (however, in some IBP chapters, these clearance are not required upon application)
✅Certificate/Verification issued by a Notary Public

2. Write your PETITION for Appointment as Notary Public and state the city or municipality where you want to have your notarial jurisdiction;

3. Prepare your three (3) passport size colored photographs;

4. Prepare 1 bondpaper indicating three (3) specimens of your signature;

5. Include the above-mentioned required documents, the 3 photographs and the specimen of your signature in your PETITION as ANNEXES;

6. Submit your verified PETITION to the Regional Trial Court which will be checked by the Clerk of Court and pay the court’s Filing Fee of P2000.00;

7. The court will have a raffle and your PETITION will be published in a newspaper chosen by the court in which you will be given an affidavit of publication;

8. Submit a FORMAL OFFER OF EXHIBITS to the Clerk of Court;

9. A Hearing will then be conducted whether you will be granted your appointment/commission as a notary public or not.

Notes/Reminders:

🥇Some of these processes may be different depending on your IBP chapter and RTC rules.There will be fees/payment for some of the above-mentioned documents (amount also depends on your chapter). There is also a payment for newspaper publication but such amount depends on the computation prevailing in your place 

🥈Follow the Efficient Paper Rule for the Petition and study again the Rules on Notarial Practice because sometimes judges would test your knowledge of the said rule and may ask you questions during the hearing of your petition.

🥉Take advantage of you being a new lawyer especially on the MCLE exemption because it is costly for new lawyers, but of course you can still attend even if you are exempted from the MCLE compliance to refresh your memory of the laws.

I hope these steps I enumerated would help new lawyers aiming to become notaries public. The process might take months of waiting for the approval of the petition, but just be patient and Trust God for He is always Here to Help us because we are the most prayerful individuals as evidenced in our pleadings.