Scrivener

A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who, before the advent of compulsory education, could read and write or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents.

This usually indicated secretarial and administrative duties such as dictation and keeping business, judicial, and historical records for kings, nobles, temples, and cities.

[1][2] They were and are generally distinguished from scribes, who in the European Middle Ages mostly copied books; with the spread of printing this role largely disappeared, but scriveners were still required.

In areas with very high literacy rates, they are far less common; however, social services organizations, libraries, and the like sometimes offer assistance to service users with low literacy skills to help them fill out forms, draft official correspondence, and the like.

In French-speaking Belgium their return dates from 1999, in an effort to curb semi-literacy and broader socio-cultural inequality; they also include services like reading out loud.

Scrivener notary tasks generally include authentication and drafting of legal documents for use in international contexts.