Media Coverage

• "The Downfall of a Monopoly" - Law Gazette (the official journal of the Law Society of England & Wales) 21/10/2000. The article refers to the decision by the European Commission to take legal action against seven European states. It says that "A Kent solicitor's campaign to end the monopoly of notaries in Europe has won a major victory in Europe. Mark Kober-Smith, solicitor and notary public...lobbied the Commission to declare nationality requirements for notaries in 10 of the European member states illegal"
• "Solicitor challenges Notary 'monopoly" - Law Gazette 28/09/2000. The article refers to the struggle to abolish the nationality rules concerning European notaries. The article quotes Jonathan Goldsmith, the Law Society's then international director as saying that Commission backing for reform of notaries would be "an important step in treating notaries like other legal service providers in the free market of Europe"
• "Scriveners to lose monopoly" - Law Gazette 19/2/1999. The article refers to the ending of the centuries old monopoly on notarial work in London and to the fact that "Mark Kober-Smith, a solicitor notary.. led the campaign against the scriveners".
• "The German notariat and the European challenge" - International Journal of the Legal Profession, Vol 10, No. 1 2003 by Professor Gisela Shaw of the University of the West of England. The article examines the notarial profession in Germany and England and comments on the abolition of both the London monopoly and the attack on European monopolies by saying "[Mark Kober-Smith's] determined and effective lobbying has met with remarkable success at both national and European level. Firstly, the scriveners' monopoly was indeed abolished....Secondly, relentless lobbying following the initial complaint submitted by Mark Kober-Smith to the European Commission on 30 September 1996 resulted in the Commission being spurred into action"