Anabel Abarca

Anabel is an associate in Taft’s Real Estate group in the Chicago office. She focuses her practice in the areas of zoning and land use and has experience reviewing real estate and construction agreements including AIA contracts, development agreements, and planned developments between general contractors and developers.

Prior to joining Taft, Anabel was a construction litigation associate with a well-known national firm in Chicago. Anabel is actively involved in the community and previously served as Alderman of Chicago’s 12th Ward. In this role, Anabel worked on various projects, including reviewing and approving TIF expenditures, ordinances, development grants, municipal bond issues, zoning changes, and land acquisitions.

Anabel earned her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she clerked for Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Anne Burke and the Board of Elections Commissioners for the City of Chicago. She earned a Master’s of Public Administration from Arizona State University and her bachelor’s degree in public policy from DePaul University.

• Co-Author, “Machnicki v. Kurowski: Mądry Polak Po Szkodzie—After the Damage, Comes the Wisdom,” Illinois State Bar Association Business and Securities Law (Oct. 2020).