To become an expert at law, you must consider the long educational path you must to through to achieve your objective. First, one should have completed basic education before going to collage to take the challenge of studying law.

Once you have received your title at law you are considered a licensed lawyer. There are important differences between a lawyer and an attorney. European and American countries have important differences. An attorney is someone who has a professional title. A lawyer can use his license to work and defend a client in jury.

So there is a big difference, at least in Mexico. An attorney and a lawyer can represent you in court or in jurisdictional procedures from the very moment they obtain their professional certification. In the past people believed that a lawyer had to have experience to become an attorney or take specialized studies to get a degree.

An attorney or a lawyer can practise in different specialized areas; this can be in private or public fields; as the ones who are devoted to corporate law, criminal, civil, commercial, administrative or labour just to mention some.

A notary practices in public offices but works for private clients. This means a notary collaborates with the State but is not a public officer. A notary works with professionalism, quality and efficiency and provides personalized service.

Since the Public Administration Office created public organizations with legal representation to decentralize legal processes and made them responsible for specific public activities for private interests. This systematization and administration handles specific public services as to attest documents, settle legal problems, matters dealing with legal difficulties related to legal authority. Some of the people working in these offices may not necessarily be part of a direct public administration, but they are supervised and monitored by the State.

An attorney or lawyer can decide to work as such or take specialized studies, postgraduate, master degrees, or doctorates. A notary is a specialization. Some universities have postgraduates for notaries and attorneys can take these courses to become notaries or take master degrees in notarial law.

A notary in Mexico is an independent professional at law that has taken a series of exams. These exams are applied those who wish to become a notary. A notary works with very high professional standards. They must be impartial with clients and have very firm and sovereign decisions, which must be legislated by the legal rights granted by the State.

A Mexican notary is part of the Body of Notaries, in Latin Courts. They are in charge of interpreting the will of the parties’ involved and write it in an authentic, public document, like a deed, attest legal documents, contracts or a notarized certificate; or give a legal notification.

There are three different kinds of notaries, Latin, Anglo- Saxon and the totalitarian. The Latin notaries work in Mexico. The Anglo-Saxon notary has different attributes and obligations from the Latin notary. The Anglo-Saxon notary is considered a qualified legal witness to testify someone’s signature by means of identification; this notary does not write anything involved in any circumstance, nor supervises the legal status of the procedure. It is a temporary position and does not need any professional education.

The totalitarian notary practices in countries ruled by a socialist regime. It is necessary for a notary to be a legal appraiser, so he can advise the parties impartially and professionally. The notary is in charge of writing the public certificate with legal notarized certification and responsibility, (Public Deeds and notarized certificates), the notary puts together, keeps track, authorizes and registers the document in the Public Registration Office so it can be made Public. 

A notary applies legal norms through creative and thoughtful practice in conventional proceedings from every day life; this is called Elaboration of notarized rights, notarized practice or jurisprudence. The notary is an assistant for the local and municipal Federal Treasury Department.  A notary can withhold tax legally, because it is a notary’s job to calculate, withhold and declare taxes and rights. The State relies on a notary’s skills to calculate taxes that are derived from the transactions the notary authorizes as well as making sure tax get paid.