Elizabeth Van Arkel

Shareholder, Dentons Davis Brown PC

Age: 36

Husband: Ryan Van Arkel 

Children: Joy and Elijah

Reasons she is a Forty: She is a senior shareholder at her firm. In 2022, she was voted Immigration Lawyer of the Year in the Des Moines metro area. She is on the Iowa Access to Justice Commission with the Iowa Supreme Court. In 2016, her pro bono petition for clemency was granted for her client by President Barack Obama.

What are your goals in your role at your company? My career goals are to help Iowa employers embrace the talent that immigrants provide to our community and to simultaneously help clients break through the cultural and language barriers found in a new country by navigating our U.S. immigration system for individuals and families.

What are your goals for your community involvement? My goals are providing access to all Iowans for basic needs, legal services, and crisis services through the Iowa Access to Justice Commission, the Volunteer Lawyers Project and as an advisory committee member to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and past board member to the Iowa International Center.

What's your biggest passion, and why? I am passionate about culture and people. My mom taught me Spanish, and my dad would sprinkle in some German words. We hosted a foreign exchange student from Ecuador, and she became my sister. Traveling and speaking with people wherever we would go became my passion.

What is it that drives you? A healthy dose of John Grisham novels and my internship with the Davenport Police Department affirmed my drive to pursue a career in law. As an immigration attorney, I combine my desire for justice and my desire to break language barriers by speaking Spanish on a regular basis.

What are your future aspirations? As a mother to a toddler and a baby under 1 year old, I aspire to demonstrate kindness, self-respect, positivity and the gift of giving back. I’d like to help create more resources for mothers to be able to connect with one another for survival and camaraderie.

Three hobbies: Walks with my neighbors, cheering for the Green Bay Packers and puzzling.

Fun fact: As an undergrad, I was reported deceased by the University Foundation at UW-Madison. I was very much still alive.

One word to describe you: Purposed.

What is your wish for the Central Iowa business community? Continued vibrancy in our business community through welcoming people of all diverse backgrounds to come work, live and play in our community.

What's one piece of advice that you would give to a young professional? Say yes. Say yes to the coffee run, to the lunch, to the volunteer opportunity. You never know what it will lead to or what you will learn about the person you are meeting.

What is one issue you would like to see Central Iowa leaders address? As a wife of a firefighter, I know there were over 30,000 calls for service across 11 stations in Des Moines in 2022. While our community continues to provide exceptional resources, I know we can always give more to the most vulnerable in society. This includes fire prevention education and education regarding EMS services.

Anything else you haven't addressed that people must know about you? I once went on a walk in South Africa at a lion conservatory and held a lion’s tail as I walked.