Welcome to the State of Oregon Notary Public Guide. This publication describes the duties and responsibilities involved in carrying out your notarial commission. It covers laws and rules, Attorney General's opinions, state policy, and common sense guidelines based on broad experience and familiarity with case law. It is your responsibility as a notary public to understand and carry out the laws and administrative rules of the State of Oregon as they relate to notaries. Failure to follow these laws could leave you liable to recovery of damages and subject to fines and other penalties. Familiarity with the Notary Public Guide will reduce that risk. No matter how much this guide covers, it will always miss some situation or special need you and your client may encounter.

The Department of Licensing has worked to keep the notary public application process as simple as possible. A prospective notary need only submit a complete application, proof of a $10,000 surety bond, and appropriate fees to the Department of Licensing in order to begin the process. Once an applicant has completed all application requirements and proven that he or she is eligible, the Department will have a new certificate of commission mailed out promptly. New in 2018, notaries public can also apply for an electronic records notary public endorsement, which allows the notary to perform notarial acts on electronic documents as well as paper documents. The application process is similar to the application process for the commission, and can be done at the same time or separately.

This series covers the federal, state, and local regulations imposed on small businesses, with concise, friendly and up-to-the-minute advice on each critical step of starting your own business.

The practice of law can be a gut-wrenching, high speed rollercoaster ride. A ride departing on the hour, every hour, day in and day out. Where its participants lock themselves in and brace for take-off. It can also be a slow float down a lazy river, traveling no faster than the current. Lawyers spend their lives taking these journeys, but they do not take them alone. The sole purpose of each is to help a client get from one place to another. The Lawyer's Song is a celebration of this profession, an exploration of the lawyer as guide. Hugh Duvall, a seasoned courtroom veteran, explores the various aspects of this work, from the passion to the pain, from the peaks to the post-journey reflections. Fellow lawyers pondering why they entered the profession and young folks considering taking the plunge will find understanding within these pages. The Lawyer's Song: Explores the complexity of legal practice, breaking it down into twenty separate topics. Discusses each topic in an entertaining, dual format - first presenting a vignette following a frontier guide in 1842 Oregon Territory and then discussing the same topic as it relates to the present day practice of law. Reinvigorates the battle-fatigued lawyer. Explains the challenges lawyers, especially trial lawyers, face on a day-to-day basis: Adhering to their oaths, negotiating fees, accepting the weight of responsibility, enduring the pain of defeat and savoring the intense satisfaction of assisting the client in achieving his or her goals. The worn and weathered attorney will emerge from reading The Lawyer's Song with renewed understanding, strength and purpose - ready to plunge head-first back into raging legal waters. The Lawyer's Song splits open the profession and lays it bare. The young student considering life as an attorney will find his or her view of this work changed, in a number of ways less romanticized and in others, more so. The Lawyer's Song is a song to "sooth the soul, to lift the spirit and celebrate our noble profession. If you are such a soul, it is a song for you. If you are not, if you are of the uninitiated, then hear our song." - from the Preface"

I n Arizona, a notary public is a public officer commissioned by the Secretary of State to perform notarial acts, as defined in the Arizona Revised Statutes (see Chapter 5). A notary, in essence, serves as an impartial witness pursuant to A.R.S. § 41- 328(B). Government offices, businesses and the public rely on the accuracy and integrity of notaries public. This means the notary should take the required steps to authenticate signatures and ensure that all notarizations are properly completed and performed. Many documents require a notarization in an effort to deter fraud, to prove the authenticity of the signature and to ensure that a signature was made willingly and not under duress. Therefore, it's essential that a notary accept a valid form of identification, as defined in statutes, to determine that a signer is who he or she claims to be. Because the prevention of fraud and deception is central to the notary's role, it is essential that a notary have no conflict of interest when notarizing a document.