Attorney Van Smith serves as a licensed settlement agent and owner at Strong Title, LLC.
Van also founded the award-winning law firm Smith Strong, PLC, which continues to serve central Virginia with legal solutions in family law, estate planning, estate litigation, estate administration, and business planning services.
Van is licensed to practice law in Virginia, the United States District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia, and United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
Van grew up in Chesterfield County, Virginia, and now resides in the City of Richmond, with his wife Katie, daughter Farah, and son George. He attended William & Mary for undergraduate and law school, where he met his wife while studying in the law library in Williamsburg.
Prior to forming Smith Strong, Van worked under highly regarded attorneys in Northern Virginia with the law firm Sevila, Saunders, Huddleston & White; he began his legal career with Williams Mullen in Richmond, Virginia, the third largest law firm in Virginia, practicing civil litigation for a wide range of corporate clients.
His experience also includes holding management positions at the University of Virginia Foundation, The College of William & Mary, and abroad with the U.S. Department of Defense, where he was named an Honorary Iraqi Firefighter for his service in the Coalition Provisional Authority throughout Iraq.
Van has addressed groups from a few dozen to several thousand on a variety of topics, from working in a nonprofit serving war-traumatized children in Zenica, Bosnia to rebuilding the fire and ambulance services in Iraq. He has given inspirational messages to elementary and middle school classes as well as at high school graduations and baccalaureate ceremonies, as well as lectures on law and history in Virginia before university audiences and community organizations.
He enjoys working to improve his clients’ lives, while also spending time with his family, playing tennis, hiking, cycling, being on the James River, fly fishing, and reading—beginning his day with coffee and a newspaper and ending it with tea and a good book.
B.A. Government, The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2003.
J.D., William & Mary School of Law, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2007.
Awards and recognition continue to come from Van’s commitment to client service, including:
2021. “Best Lawyer.” Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Best, Readers’ Choice Award.
2021. Super Lawyers’ Rising Star Award. Super Lawyers.
2021. Legal Elite. Virginia Business magazine.
2020. Super Lawyers’ Rising Star Award. Super Lawyers.
2020. Legal Elite. Virginia Business magazine.
2019. Super Lawyers’ Rising Star Award. Super Lawyers.
2019. Legal Elite. Virginia Business magazine.
2018. Super Lawyers. Super Lawyers’ Rising Star Award.
2018. Legal Elite. Virginia Business magazine.
2017. Legal Elite. Virginia Business magazine.
2017. Top 10 Attorneys in Virginia. Attorney and Practice Magazine.
2017. Super Lawyers. Super Lawyers’ Rising Star Award in Family & Matrimonial Law.
2016. Legal Elite. Virginia Business magazine.
2015. Virginia Business magazine, Virginia’s Legal Elite..
2015. Avvo’s Client’s Choice Award.
2015. Richmond Times-Dispatch Reader’s Choice Award, Lawyer, distinction.
2013, 2014, 2015. Avvo’s Client Satisfaction Award.
2014 & 2015. Super Lawyers. Super Lawyers’ Rising Star Award in Family & Matrimonial Law.
2007. William & Mary School of Law, Class of 2007, voted “Most Likely To Become Law School Dean.”
2004. Coalition Provisional Authority, Baghdad, Iraq. Honorary Iraqi Firefighter.
2003. William & Mary. Benjamin Stoddert Ewell Award for Community Leadership, “selected on the basis of their outstanding participation and leadership on campus and/or community activities, and on the basis of their service and contribution to the school or community.”
1999. Van’s graduating High School Class voted him, “Best All Around,” which remains his favorite award.