A paralegal, who is also a notary public, is employed by a large law firm. The law firm represents a top-twenty bank that, among other lines of business, owns mortgages sold to buyers of residential property and processes the mortgage payments. An associate is assigned to process the judicial foreclosure on 100 mortgages owned by the bank, but notices that none of the affidavits provided by the bank (and required for foreclosure) have been notarized. The associate brings the affidavits to the paralegal and asks her to notarize them. How should the paralegal respond?
Explanation
Answer: A - Refuse to notarize them unless an authorized bank representative re-signs them in her presence. “It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to . . . engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.” Model Rule 8.4(c). “A paralegal must not . . . take any actions that attorneys may not take.” NALA Code, Canon 1. When a notary public notarizes a document, the notary public is acknowledging that the document was signed in the presence of the notary public. Answer A is the best choice because, as a notary public, the paralegal must acknowledge that the document was signed in her presence. Moreover, notarizing the affidavits would be a misrepresentation in violation of the Model Rules (and probably Canon 9 of the NALA Code of Ethics).
