Aurora Abella-Austriaco, Principal of Austriaco & Associates, Ltd., concentrates her practice in the areas of commercial and real estate transactions, commercial and real estate litigation, construction litigation, mechanic’s liens, mortgage foreclosure, mortgage fraud, title insurance claims and other special chancery remedy cases. Prior to forming her own firm, she was with the firm, Peck Bloom Austriaco & Koenig, LLC. Aurora also worked as Corporate Counsel and Managing Attorney for the Indiana operations for Attorney’s Title Guaranty Fund, Inc. Aurora graduated from De Paul University with a B.S. in Finance (1987) and J.D. (1990).
Aurora currently serves as Secretary of the Chicago Bar Association, an organization of over 22,000 lawyers and is recently elected Treasurer for the 2009-2010 bar year. She served on the board of the Chicago Bar Foundation for 9 years. She is Vice-President of the Center for Confl ict Resolution (CCR) and served as the first female and minority President of the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers’ Association (IRELA), an organization of approximately 1,200 real estate lawyers throughout Illinois. She is a founding board member of the Filipino American Bar Association, past board member and current member of the Asian American Bar Association and the ISBA Real Estate Section Council. Aurora also served as board member of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois (WBAI) and was recently elected to the Board of Directors of Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund, Inc., a bar related title insurance company. Aurora is the first female minority elected to the ATG board.
Aurora is serving her 2nd year as Chair of the Tellers Committee of the ABA House of Delegates. She is an appointed member to the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers Title Guaranty Fund as well as an appointed member to the ABA Standing Committee on Meetings and Travel. She is serving her 2nd year as Chicago Bar Association delegate to the ABA House of Delegates.
In addition to her bar association involvement, Aurora is also active in the community. She is currently serving her seventh term as Chair of the Cook County States Attorney Asian Advisory Council and her ninth year as Commissioner for the Cook County Human Rights Commission. She also serves as a Commissioner for the Park Ridge Building and Zoning Commission. Aurora recently served as President of the Asian American Institute and was elected to the Board of Governors of the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Illinois. She is a member of the Attorney General Asian Advisory Council and Illinois State Treasurer’s Asian Advisory Council. Aurora was a 2004 Fellow of the Leadership Greater Chicago. She served as a member of the Filipino American Voters League from 1996-98 and as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Chicago. Aurora recently got appointed to the Board of Hubbard Street Dance of Chicago.
Aurora is a frequent speaker and lecturer and has spoken at various CLE conferences with the CBA, ISBA Real Estate Section, ISBA General Practice Section and ABA Real Property Section. She was the key note speaker for the 2009 DePaul APALSA banquet dinner on the topic of “Affirmative Action-Are we There Yet?” She co-authored the House Closing Repairs article published in the July 1998 issue of the ABA Journal and the Dream Home Nightmares article published in the February 2004 issue of the ABA Journal. Aurora also authored The New Federal Lead Based Paint Regulations, which was published in the 1996 Dec/Jan issue of the DCBA Brief.
Aurora was named twice as one of 100 Women Making a Difference by Today’s Chicago Woman. In May 2006, Aurora received the CBA Alliance for Women “Alta Mae Hulett” award, a prestigious award given to women lawyers who have significantly contributed to the advancement of women in the profession. In the same year, Aurora also received the 2006 Philippine Chamber of Commerce “Excellence in Law” award. Aurora also received a “Distinguished Service” Award from Cook County States Attorney, Richard Devine for her service as Chair of the Asian Advisory Council. Aurora also received the ABA Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) “Legacy Justice Fund” Award on June 5, 2008. The CLEO award recognizes members of the legal community whose efforts and activities serve to advance the cause of diversity within the legal profession.
On April 18, 2009, Aurora was recognized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce as one of the “Ten Most Outstanding Filipino American Businessmen” and on April 22, 2009, Aurora was one of the recipients of the CBA “Vanguard Award.” Aurora also became the 2010 Asian American Coalition Event Chair which is being hosted by the Filipino Community.
In February 2008, Aurora became the Democratic Nominee for Illinois State Representative, 65th District.
Aurora is fl uent in Tagalog. She is married to Dr. Jerome Austriaco and they have 2 girls, Danielle and Isabelle.