With less than a week to go until London’s Sky Ride members of our notary office are busy preparing to take part in this wonderful celebrations in London’s calendar.

The London Sky Ride is a fantastic day where members of the public can cycle through a “traffic fee” London.  People wanting to take part in the ride can still register by going to www.goskyride.com. The Skyride is on Sunday 4th September. It is free and open to every member of London’s community who wish to explore the City of London on bike.

London is a key part of the Sky Ride campaign, which is a strategy to get one million people riding a bike by 2013. The event has attracted a great deal of publicity, not least for the active involement of Mayor of London, Boris Johnson and Kelly Brooke as a Sky Ride Ambassador.

Matthew Pryke explains “The London Sky Ride really is a fantastic day out for all the family.  Being able to cycle through London and enjoy this wonderful city from the comfort of your bike is an experience not to be missed.  Members of our Notary offices in London will be supporting this great event and welcome the Mayor of London’s promotion and support for this event and cycling as London’s long term transport solution.”

For further details of the London Sky Ride and the notary services of M D Pryke Notary Public please refer to the website www.mdpryke-notary.com.

On 24 May 2011 the European Court of Justice held that it was not lawful to restrict work undertaken by a Notary Public in an EU country to the notaries qualified from that country.  The decision removes the nationality restriction which had been in place for more than 50 years.

The implication of this decision for the notary industry is that this opens the European market in a manner which reflects one of the core principals of the European Union, namely free movement of workers.  The decision should be viewed as good news for notary clients as it suggests that in the medium to long term the profession will undergo a revolution which will see Notary Publics of different nationalities competing for business to the benefit of notary clients.  Whilst it would be unrealistic to expect that this will have an immediate impact on the market it does mean that notary practices may now target both markets and work which previously would have been restricted to them.

Matthew Pryke commenting on the decision explained, “The decision of the European Court of Justice is both correct and overdue.  There are a number of notaries within the UK who have been arguing for some time for this decision and therefore represents a positive culmination of their efforts.  In particular I believe London Notary Public Mark Kober-Smith deserves particular mention for the active interest, instigation and promotion of this matter which he has undertaken.”

Matthew Pryke’s Notary Public London practice will continue to maintain an active role in the promotion and development of the Notaries profession throughout Europe from its offices in London’s West End.  For further details regarding this decision and also the manner in which notary publics are able to operate within the UK please refer to the website at www.mdpryke-notary.com.

Notary London firm, MD Pryke Notary Public LLP would like to pass on details of the Christmas and New Year opening hours for the Legalisation offices in Milton Keynes and Central London.

The Foreign and Commonwealth office advise that both Legalisation offices will operate as usual, up to and including Thursday 23 December 2010.

Milton Keynes – Norfolk House:

24 December: 09.30 to 14.00

27 December: Closed

28 December: Closed

29 December: Closed

30 December: 09.30 to 15.30

31 December: 09.30 to 14.00

03 December: Closed

04 December: 09.30 to 15.30

We are further advised that every Notary in London with documents to legalise on behalf of their clients must submit these documents by 15.00 on Thursday 23 December, in order that they can be legalised by Christmas.

Any Notary in London that wishes to have documents legalised before New Year must submit them prior to 15.00 on 30 December.

A Notary in London who wishes to legalise business documents on behalf of their clients must, as ever, submit them to the Centre Point offices in London.

The opening hours for the Centre point offices are as follows:

24 December: 09.00 to 14.00

27 December: Closed

28 December: Closed

29 December: Closed

30 December: 09.00 to 15.30

31 December: 09.00 to 14.00

03 December: Closed

04 December: 09.00 to 15.30

Notaries in London wishing to work around the FCO’s holiday hours are advised that on Christmas Eve they will accept documents received in the morning postal delivery and collect and return those taken in on 23 December.

For further information on the Notary information displayed here, please contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office directly, or MD Pryke Notary Public LLP on 0207 636 4422.

Free deed poll name change is a term commonly typed into Internet search engines. Sadly however, many sites that profess to offer a free Deed Poll download subsequently charge for the service once you examine the small print on their websites.

At MD Pryke Notary Public LLP members of the public often contact us to enquire whether our free deed poll service is genuinely available at no charge and whether they have to be in the London area in order to take advantage of our offer.

To clarify our position we can categorically state that our Deed Poll document is provided completely free of charge to the public.  There’s no catch to worry about, just a genuinely gratis deed poll name change document for UK citizens, which is available free to download and is totally legally binding.

Simply download the name change document at http://www.mdpryke-notary.com/2010/08/changing-name-by-deed-poll and fill it in using the easily understood directions.

As discussed in a response to a client’s questions which can be viewed at http://www.mdpryke-notary.com/2010/09/deed-poll-name-change-storm-on-x-factor it is essential that you follow the steps as described and that you sign the deed poll in front of a witness.

A Notary Public or solicitor is not required, but it must be witnessed by a third party in order that your free name change by deed poll process becomes legally binding and recongnised in any court in England and Wales.

For further details on our free deed poll service please contact MD Pryke Notary Public LLP on 0207 636 4422, or through the usual channels.

Notary Public in London business, MD Pryke Notary Public LLP, is proud to announce that this week they received their 1000^th new client.  Notary practice director Matthew Pryke was delighted at passing such a significant milestone.

‘London presents a very competitive market in which to operate a Notary Public service’, says Matthew.  ‘It is vital that as a business focused Notary practice based in central London, we match the pace and intensity of the corporate clients we serve.

‘Of course, a London Notary Practice such as ours thrives on repeat business from clients who value our level of service, our competitive pricing structure and our forensic attention to detail on every transaction.  To pass the 1000 mark for new clients remains a significant achievement however, and it reflects the intelligence and hard work of the MD Pryke Notary Public LLP team who go to such great lengths to ensure that every notarial transaction is completed swiftly and efficiently, and with the absolute minimum of fuss.

‘Whether my staff are advising clients on legalisation matters, apostille work, power of attorney issues or our free deed poll service; their diligence and common sense approach is unparalleled.’

For further details of how this Notary London practice can service your Notarial requirements, please contact us on 0207 6364422, or via our website.

Notary Public in London Guides, recently published two articles on money laundering regulations.  The first article described the process whereby criminals re-introduce the proceeds of their crime back into the fiscal system, the second Notary Public London Guide laid out an overview of the 2002 Proceeds of Crime Act and how it affects Notaries Public.

In this second article we advised fellow notaries in London and across England and Wales to contact the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) should they have suspicions regarding the integrity of any notarial transaction.

The feedback we received from fellow Notaries Public in London was that many Notaries are unsure of the correct procedure for contacting SOCA.

A Notary should contact SOCA the very moment they suspect a transaction may be unlawful and it is strongly advised that a suspicious Notary should make a report via the SOCA website at www.soca.gov.uk .  In urgent cases a Notary may contact them by telephone or fax but we are advised that a duty officer may not be trained to give legal advice.

SOCA contact details are:

Telephone – 020 7238 8282
Fax – 020 7238 8286

If SOCA are alerted prior to a Notarial transaction taking place, the Notary is not permitted to act unless they have not had a response from SOCA in 8 working days.  After this period consent can be assumed and the transaction may proceed.

If SOCA contact the Notary in question within this 8 day timeframe then the transaction may not be completed for a further 31 days.

For further information please contact MD Pryke Notary Public LLP.

This Notary Public London Guide is the second article in a series about money laundering.  The first article dealt with the various stages of the financial process whereby criminals reintroduce the proceeds of their crime back into the monetary system.

This Notary Public London Guide tackles some aspects of the ‘Proceeds of Crime Act’ of 2002 and the implications for Notaries Public in England and Wales.

The act established three principle areas of money laundering, namely:

• Arrangements
• Acquisition
• Concealing

Any Notary Public in London (or elsewhere) must disclose any suspicions to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) as soon as these concerns become apparent. Furthermore, the transaction will not be able to proceed until SOCA has given its consent.

A Notary Public must be aware that under the terms of the 2002 Act mentioned previously, the law applies to the passive possession of criminally acquired property and proceeds, and there are rather draconian measures awaiting those who fail to comply with the current regulations.

A Notary in breach of one of the principle offences mentioned above, risks a maximum punishment of a 14 year prison sentence and a large fine.  Any Public Notary who commits a ‘failure to disclose’ offence, or is found guilty either of ‘tipping off’ a criminal or behaving in a manner that might be construed as obstructing an investigation, faces a maximum jail term of 5 years and the possibility of a fine.

As ever, this Notary Public in London guide is intended to be a broad overview of an extremely complex piece of legislation.  Should you have any concerns about money laundering, MD Pryke Notary Public LLP strongly advise you to contact the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Notaries Public have to be aware of the current money laundering regulations and conduct their business accordingly.  Money laundering is something of a hot topic in law circles at the moment so MD Pryke Notary Public LLP has produced a series of articles designed to provide both Notaries and their clients with a broad understanding of the issues involved.

So, let’s tackle the definition of money laundering.  When the criminal receives the proceeds of crime they must search for a way to legitimise their windfall.  They do this by placing their money back into the financial system in order to disguise its origins and to appear as if it were the proceeds of a legitimate financial transaction.

This initial ‘placement’ of monies is often the easiest stage to detect that a crime has taken place so a Notary Public will take steps to ensure that they receive the correct level of identification before they can properly act.  If they suspect the motives of a client who, for example, wishes only to deal in cash without providing a reason for so doing, a Notary Public in London (or elsewhere, for that matter) is obliged to report their suspicions to the relevant authorities.  The procedure for this and the relevant contact details of the organisations involved will be published in future Notary Public London Guides.

The next stage in the money laundering process is often called layering, which is where a criminal will try to pass the money through a bewildering array of transactions designed to obscure its origins.

The final stage of which a Notary Public must be aware is the process of integration, whereby the criminal attempts to reintroduce the proceeds of his crime back into circulation, most often through a property transaction or by establishing a trading company.

For further details of money laundering regulations and how they affect a Notary Public in London, please contact Matthew Pryke through the usual channels or by calling 0207 636 4422.

The recent Supreme Court ruling in favour of German heiress Katrin Radmacher has significant ramifications for family law in the UK.  The judges upheld a pre-nuptial contract signed in Germany with her French husband, which reduced his divorce settlement by 80%.

Notary Public in London, Matthew Pryke, advises that, while many commentators feel that this effectively introduces pre-nuptial contracts into English law, those who hold shared assets abroad should always consult a Notary Public to ensure that the relevant paperwork is correct.

For example, should a married couple live in London but also own a property in Spain, they should visit a Notary Public in London to ensure that if one of the couple die, the Spanish courts would still observe their will.

London NotaryPublic, Matthew says, ‘It’s always advisable to consult a Notary Public when dealing with any situation where a shared asset is registered in a foreign country.  The rules can be quite complex, but a Notary will be able to advise on the best course of action.’

For further information on notarising documents relating to shared assets in a foreign country, contact Notary Public in London Matthew Pryke, on 0207 6364422, or via the contact form on his website.

When London Notary Matthew Pryke was quoted in a Sunday Times article on Intellectual Property for entrepreneurs, many clients of MD Pryke Notary Public LLP were surprised to learn that Matthew’s legal expertise stretched further than Notary matters.

As well as being a fully qualified Notary Public in London, Matthew is also Head of Commercial and IP Law at Wallace LLP.  A position that has brought him to the attention of the London public once more with the publication of the current edition of the Legal 500.

Readers who are interested in what a Notary Public London gets up to when not dealing with notarial matters can find the article here: http://www.legal500.com/firms/3446-wallace-llp/offices/543-london.  In short, the article recommends Matthew for his ‘consistent, proactive advice’ for clients such as Models1, Costcutter and Lovebox Entertainment.

Matthew says, ‘To be recommended in the Legal 500 is obviously flattering, but whether I am operating as a commercial lawyer or in my role as a Notary Public in London, I always aim to deliver a clear sighted, jargon free service to my clients.  The key is to explain the relevant options and procedures and advise them on how to achieve the best results for their business.’

For further information on the role of a Notary Public in London or for Commercial and IP advice please contact Matthew through the usual channels or call him on 0207 636 4432.

Legal 500