Bernard "Bert" van Gils works in the areas of education, business and corporate law, local and international business transactions, copyrights, trademarks, non-profits, estate planning and asset protection. 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 serves as General Counsel for the University of North America and he is a member of the adjunct faculty. He enjoys teaching and has presented classes and seminars at the Universitas Pakuan in Bogor, Indonesia, Fudan University, Shanghai, China and Jian Tao University, Shanghai, China. Bert delivered the Keynote Address "Lessons of American Constitutionalism for Europe" at the Second Annual Conference for Redefining Europe hosted by the Ashburn Institute and the University of Northern Virginia in Prague, The Czech Republic.
Bert is active in his local community and presently serves on the Board of Directors of the Greater Warrenton Chamber of Commerce and the Balanced Growth Alliance. He has formerly served 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. He holds a Bachelors of Arts in History and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Bert is a member of the Virginia State Bar (admitted to practice, April 1987) and a member of the International Law, Business Law, and Wills, Trusts and Estates sections.
