Bernard "Bert" van Gils works in the areas of estate planning and business law. His business practice includes general counsel services, local and international business transactions, copyrights, trademarks and non-profit organizations. He has facilitated, negotiated and drafted transactions for companies active throughout the United States and for companies conducting business in Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia. As he was a business owner before becoming a lawyer, Bert especially enjoys assisting business owners with establishing and growing their businesses. He has assisted businesses in information technology, retail and wholesale sales, engineering, building and home contracting, printing, graphic arts, web page design, high technology training, international trade, real estate, music production and publishing. Additionally, Bert enjoys teaching and has presented classes in the U.S. and overseas including seminars at the Universitas Pakuan in Bogor, Indonesia, Fudan University, Shanghai, China and Jian Tao University, Shanghai, China. Bert is active in his local community. He has served as the President of the Board of Directors of the Greater Warrenton Chamber of Commerce and on the boards of the Fauquier County Chamber of Commerce, the Fauquier County Community Action Committee, the Partnership for Warrenton, the Ballet Academy of Warrenton and the Fauquier Regional Technology Association. At Lord Fairfax College in Warrenton, Virginia, he has provided seminars to small business owners for the Small Business Development Program. Bert received his Juris Doctor in 1986 from the Washington College of Law for American University in Washington, D.C., where he was an Associate Editor of the inaugural edition of The American University Journal of International Law and Policy.
