Team DGVE law

Attorney Danielle G. Van Ess founded DGVE law in Hingham in 2008 with a vision for a new kind of law firm. She created DGVE law to compassionately provide high quality, holistic legal services in a friendly, relaxed, comfortable, and environmentally conscientious way.

Danielle enjoys the privilege of working with people of all ages, in all stages of life, from all types of families, through enthusiastic referrals from clients and professional colleagues to their friends, family members, and clients.

Danielle has been married to her law school classmate for going on a quarter of a century. #timeflies Together, she and her husband have four daughters who currently range in age from elementary school through college. Danielle is a law mom who truly understands the time constraints and pressing legal needs of families. Using her personal experience creating and updating her family’s estate plan over the past 20 years, Danielle is able to guide her clients with patience and empathy.

As a sister whose younger brother died way too soon, she also knows the searing pain of loss of an immediate family member. Having had to Probate his estate at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, Danielle also understands what it takes to wrap up a loved one’s final legal and financial affairs while grieving, caregiving, working, and under pressure. Danielle uses both her personal and professional experiences to guide her clients, with gentle compassion, through the trust and estate administration process to make that difficult time a little easier.

A natural teacher, Danielle strives to educate and empower her clients. She creates an uplifting and fulfilling experience throughout the process of working together. Danielle enjoys the legal counseling that is such a big part of her approach. She always encourages clients to contact our team with any questions or concerns. Danielle is grateful for the lasting personal and professional relationships she has developed with so many members of our extended DGVE law client family. They know where to turn whenever they need help.

Danielle is originally from Swampscott on Boston’s North Shore. She earned her Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) with honors from The George Washington University in Washington, DC in 1998. After earning her Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from Boston University School of Law in 2001, Danielle earned her first license to practice law and was sworn into the Commonwealth of Virginia Bar. She then spent seven years working as a lawyer for national, nonprofit organizations.

In 2008, Danielle obtained her license to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and changed her legal practice area so she could still help people through the law, just in a different way.

After over a dozen years of self-study, working with great mentors, and practicing in the real world, Danielle began the Boston University School of Law Graduate Tax Law Program in 2021 to earn her Legal Master’s degree (LL.M.) in Taxation with a concentration in trusts and estates. She is completing the program intentionally slowly around work and personal responsibilities, with an anticipated graduation date of Spring 2026. That highly specialized tax law knowledge combined with many years of practical experience serves our clients well.

For years, Danielle has reviewed estate plans drafted by other attorneys and helped clients experiencing the fallout during the post-death administration when those plans were put to the test. Observing the proliferation of DIY estate planning software options, and the lowered bar to entry to establish a law practice and hold oneself out to the public offering estate planning legal services, Danielle decided to study Probate and Fiduciary Litigation as well. Unfortunately, that seems to be the wave of the future from those types of plans.

Danielle proudly served on the Board of Directors of the Hingham Cemetery from 2019-2024. There, she helped contribute to the local South Shore and Greater Boston area performing arts and literary scene through the Ames Chapel Dead of Winter series, and to preserve the unique history and grounds of that beautiful, living space just a block from the DGVE law offices on South Street in downtown Hingham Square. Her little brother is buried there now.

Danielle has been a member of the Massachusetts Forum of Estate Planning Attorneys since 2009. She served as an Officer and Director from 2012-2023 helping design and contribute to continuing legal education programs for estate planning lawyers throughout Massachusetts and New England. For the past several years, Danielle has co-administered a collaborative, online group for estate planning attorneys throughout the U.S. and in Canada.

Since 2023, Danielle has been a member of ProVisors, an invitation-only business networking organization. It is only open to senior-level professionals who personally have 10+ years experience and are widely considered to be trusted advisors and leaders in their field, with a strong client base to whom they are a trusted advisor, and a broad professional network. Danielle is grateful for her extended networks of experienced lawyers and other professionals with whom she regularly consults, collaborates, shares ideas, and makes referrals to better serve our clients.