Aurora Abella-Austriaco, of counsel to the firm, concentrates her practice in the areas of real estate litigation, construction litigation, mechanic's liens, mortgage foreclosure, mortgage fraud, title insurance claims and other special chancery remedy cases. Prior to joining Peck Bloom, she served 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 is past Chair of the Chicago Bar Association Young Lawyers' Section, an organization of 11,000 young lawyers. She finished her two year term as Board member for the Chicago Bar Association and currently serves on the board of the Chicago Bar Foundation. She serves as Vice-President of the Center for Conflict Resolution (CCR) and is 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 current Chair of the New Construction Committee of the ABA General Practice Section and serves as member to the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers Title Guaranty Fund. She was also reappointed as ABA Section Officers Council Liaison to the ABA Standing Committee on Meetings and Travel. She was recently appointed Chicago Bar Association delegate to the ABA House of Delegates and appointed as Chair of the Tellers Committee for the House of Delegates.

In addition to her bar association involvement, Aurora is also active in the community. She is currently serving her fourth term as Chair of the Cook County State's Attorney's Asian Advisory Council and her sixth year as Commissioner for the Cook County Human Rights Commission. She also serves as a Commissioner for the Park Ridge Building and Zoning Commission and the Ad Hoc Zoning Committee. Aurora was recently elected President of the Asian American Institute and appointed Board of Governors of the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Illinois. She is a member of the Governors' Asian Advisory Council, the Attorney General Asian Advisory Council and Clerk of the Circuit Court Asian Advisory Council. Aurora was a 2004 Fellow of the Leadership of 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 has spoken at various CLE conferences with the CBA, ISBA Real Estate Section, ISBA General Practice Section and ABA Real Property Section. 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 A 100 Women Making a Difference by Today's Chicago Woman. In May 2006, Aurora was the recipient of the CBA Alliance for Women A Alta Mae Hulett award, a prestigious award given to women lawyers who have significantly contributed to the advancement of women in the profession. Aurora was also the recipient of the 2006 Philippine Chamber of Commerce A Excellence in Law award.

Aurora is fluent in Tagalog.

E-mail: aaustriaco@peckbloom.com