Attorney, Notary, Lawyer: Who Is Who and Who to Turn To
Attorney, notary, lawyer, enforcement officer, mediator. Terms that are easily confused, even though each plays a different role in your case. I explain how these professions differ, who defends your interests and who must stay impartial, and a table shows who to turn to.
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Ing. Mgr. Tomáš Beneš, attorney-at-law
Czech Bar Association reg. no. 20354 · Updated 24 July 2026
A note on the terminology
The Czech legal system is a civil-law system, so the professions do not map one to one onto common-law titles. Throughout this guide: advokát means an attorney (lawyer admitted to the Czech Bar Association); právník is a lawyer in the broad sense, anyone with a law degree; notář is a civil-law notary, a full legal profession and a very different institution from a US notary public; soudní exekutor is a court-appointed enforcement officer (bailiff); and koncipient is a junior lawyer or legal trainee preparing to become an attorney.
A lawyer and an attorney are not the same thing
„Lawyer“ (právník) is a broad term: it covers anyone with a law degree, including a law graduate who works in a bank or a public office or has never practiced law at all. A lawyer without further authorization may not provide legal services on a regular basis and for a fee, so they cannot, for example, routinely represent you in court for payment.
An attorney (advokát) is a lawyer who has, in addition, met the conditions set by law and is entered on the list of attorneys kept by the Czech Bar Association. Under the Act on the Legal Profession, an attorney is precisely the person entered on that list. To get there, they must have, among other things, a university law degree, at least three years of practice as a trainee attorney, a clean criminal record, a passed bar exam, and they must take the attorney's oath.
It is this entry on the Bar's list that turns a lawyer into an attorney, and it comes hand in hand with several duties an ordinary lawyer does not have:
- ✓Confidentiality. An attorney must keep confidential everything they learned in connection with providing legal services, even after the representation ends and, in principle, even after being removed from the list of attorneys.
- ✓Mandatory insurance. An attorney practicing independently must be insured against liability for harm caused to a client.
- ✓Disciplinary liability. For breaching their duties, an attorney can face anything from a reprimand through a fine to a ban on practicing or removal from the list; a disciplinary panel of the Czech Bar Association decides on the offense.
Legal services (representation before courts and other authorities, criminal defense, legal advice, drafting documents, legal analyses) may be provided for a fee only by attorneys and a few other professions listed by law (notaries, court-appointed enforcement officers, patent attorneys, tax advisers, and others). Offering legal services without such authorization is expressly prohibited by law.
The key difference to remember
When providing legal services, an attorney is independent but bound by the client's instructions. In other words, an attorney stands on your side and defends your interest. That fundamentally sets them apart from a notary, an enforcement officer, and a mediator, all of whom must stay impartial. More on that below.
Trainee attorney: a lawyer training to become an attorney
A trainee attorney (koncipient) is a lawyer entered on the list of trainee attorneys kept by the Czech Bar Association, employed by an attorney and preparing, under that attorney's supervision (the supervision of a trainer), to practice as an attorney. The conditions for entry include, among other things, a university law degree, good character, and an employment relationship with an attorney for the prescribed weekly working hours.
A trainee attorney's practice lasts at least three years and is one of the conditions everyone must meet before they can be entered on the list of attorneys themselves. A trainee may represent the attorney in individual acts of legal assistance if the attorney authorizes them to do so, but does not provide legal services in their own name and independently. Even then, responsibility for harm caused to a client in connection with practicing law lies with the attorney the trainee works for.
For a client, this yields a simple takeaway: if a trainee is handling your matter, you should know which attorney is responsible for the outcome and who is actually leading the case.
Notary: an impartial recorder and court commissioner
A notary (a civil-law notary, not a US notary public) is a natural person whom the state has entrusted with a notarial office. Notaries are appointed by the Minister of Justice on a proposal from the Notarial Chamber of the Czech Republic, through a selection procedure for a specific notarial office. The number of notarial offices in the district of each district court is set by the Minister, so it is a limited number of positions (unlike the legal profession, which anyone who meets the statutory conditions can enter, regardless of how many attorneys already practice in the area).
Notarial activity consists of drawing up public instruments about legal acts (for example a notarial deed of a contract or a will), certifying legally significant facts and declarations, and accepting documents and money into notarial escrow. Notarial deeds and the instruments they draw up have the character of public instruments, which gives them greater evidentiary force than an ordinary private document.
Two things people often do not know about notaries:
- ✓Probate proceedings. In estate proceedings, a notary does not represent any of the heirs but acts as a court commissioner, meaning they act in the name of the court and effectively conduct the proceedings on its behalf.
- ✓Notarial escrow. A notary can accept both money and documents into escrow, typically the purchase price in a property sale, and release them only once the agreed conditions are met (for example the registration of ownership in the Land Registry).
A notary's fee is not a matter of agreement, as it is with an attorney. Its amount and the method of calculation are set by the Ministry of Justice in a decree, the so-called notarial tariff.
The key difference
Notarial activity, that is, drawing up public instruments, certification, and escrow, is performed impartially. In that role, a notary is not and cannot be „your“ lawyer in the sense of defending only your interest against the other side. On the contrary, they ensure the act (a contract, a will, an escrow) is in order for everyone involved and will hold up in court. Under so-called additional activity, a notary may also give legal advice or represent one party, but there they no longer act as an impartial notary, and instead act more like an attorney.
Court-appointed enforcement officer: enforces what has already been decided
A court-appointed enforcement officer (bailiff) is a natural person whom the state has entrusted with an enforcement office to carry out the compulsory enforcement of enforcement titles, that is, final judgments, payment orders, notarial deeds with consent to enforceability, and other titles the debtor has failed to satisfy voluntarily. Enforcement officers are appointed by the Minister of Justice on a proposal from the Chamber of Enforcement Officers of the Czech Republic; as with notaries, this is an appointment to a specific enforcement office through a selection procedure.
The enforcement is conducted by the officer chosen by the entitled party, that is, the creditor, in their motion. Even so, in carrying out enforcement activity the officer acts independently and is bound only by the Constitution, the laws, and court decisions, not by the creditor's instructions. Their task is not to decide who is right (that has already been finally decided earlier) but to secure the fulfillment of the obligation the enforcement title imposes.
This is a fundamental difference from an attorney: if an enforcement officer contacts you, the dispute over your debt has usually already taken place (or you failed to perform voluntarily and the creditor holds an enforceable title), and at this stage an attorney can help you mainly with defending against enforcement (for example a motion to stop it), not with negotiating „instead of“ the enforcement officer.
Mediator: helps find an agreement, does not decide for you
A registered mediator is a natural person entered on the list of mediators kept by the Ministry of Justice. Mediation is a way of resolving a conflict in which the mediator supports communication between the parties so that they themselves reach an amicable solution and conclude a mediation agreement. A mediator must conduct mediation in person, independently, and impartially.
The fundamental difference from both an attorney and a court: a mediator does not decide the dispute and does not impose an agreement on the parties, but only helps them find their own solution. The parties to the conflict alone are responsible for the content of the mediation agreement. Mediation typically makes sense where you want to keep a working relationship with the other side even after the dispute is resolved, for example in family disputes over child care arrangements, neighbor disputes, or where a court dispute would be disproportionately long and expensive relative to what is at stake.
Judge and public prosecutor, for completeness
Two more professions belong on the list, the ones you will mostly meet in court:
- ✓A judge exercises independent judicial power in the name of the republic; no one may endanger their impartiality. A judge is appointed by the President of the republic without a time limit. A judge decides the dispute between the parties and represents neither of them.
- ✓A public prosecutor represents the public prosecution in criminal proceedings, meaning they act in the name of the state, not the accused nor the injured party. If you are charged with a crime, your defender is an attorney, not the public prosecutor, and certainly not the judge.
Who to turn to: I need X, I go to Y
| You need | Who can help you |
|---|---|
| To draw up a purchase contract for a flat or house | Attorney (defends your interest in the wording of the contract), notary (a notarial deed and escrow of the purchase price as an impartial safeguard for both sides) |
| To draw up a will | Notary (a public instrument, certainty of form) or attorney (advice on the content, and possibly drafting) |
| To deal with an inheritance | Probate proceedings are automatically conducted by a notary as a court commissioner; bring in an attorney if you want to have your interest as an heir represented in a contested estate |
| To get divorced or arrange child care | Attorney (representing your interest), mediator (if you want an agreement without a dispute) |
| To recover a debt someone is not repaying | Attorney (a demand, a lawsuit, representation in court); only after a final decision does a court-appointed enforcement officer take over the recovery |
| I am facing enforcement and do not know what to do | Attorney (defense, a motion to stop the enforcement); you usually do not negotiate „better terms“ with the enforcement officer directly |
| A dispute with an employer | Attorney |
| A dispute with a neighbor I want to resolve out of court | Registered mediator |
| To form an LLC (s.r.o.) | Notary (the founding legal act for an s.r.o. must always take the form of a notarial deed) and attorney (drafting the other documents, advice) |
| To certify a signature on a document | Notary, attorney (a declaration of the authenticity of a signature) |
Frequently asked questions about the differences between legal professions
Who will handle your case
Ing. Mgr. Tomáš Beneš
Attorney registered with the Czech Bar Association, based in Prague.
Law degree from Charles University. I focus on business law, real estate and employment disputes. I handle every case personally, no assistants.
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