Overview
Sara Abarbanel is an associate and litigation lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. She is a member of the firm’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice.
Prior to joining Foley, Sara worked as a summer associate at Foley, in the California Attorney General's Executive Office, and in the California Governor's Office of Legal Affairs. In addition, while in law school, she was a graduate student instructor for Introduction to Real Estate and Urban Land Economics, Political and Agency Management Aspects of Public Policy, International and Global History since 1945, and a reader for Public Sector Economics.
Before law school, Sara served as a research assistant and administrative associate at Stanford Law School.
Education
Sara earned her law degree and Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California, Berkeley (J.D./M.P.P., 2018). During this time, she served as an associate editor for the Journal of Criminal Law, Symposium Committee, Supervising Editor, and 1L Editor. During policy school, Sara worked with the HUD field office in Portland to research the possibility of using tiny home villages as transitional housing. She also worked with the California Policy Lab to understand the potential for public sector data sharing agreements.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago (A.B. with honors, 2010), where she majored in International Studies and minored in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and was a Student Marshal.
Admissions
Sara is admitted to practice in California.
Publications
- Abarbanel, Sara, Angela McCray, Kathryn McCann Newhall, and Jessica Snyder, “Realigning the Revolving Door: An Analysis of California Counties’ AB 109 2011-2012 Implementation Plans.” Stanford Criminal Justice Center (2013)
- Mukamal, Debbie and Abarbanel, Sara and Quan, Lisa, Reallocation of Responsibility: Changes to the Correctional System in California Post-Realignment. SSRN, ( 2014)
- Contributor to: Petersilia, Joan and Abarbanel, Sara and Butler, John and Feldman, Mark and Hinds, Mariam and Jason, Kevin and Keel, Corinne and Owens, Matthew J. and Vilkin, Camden, Voices from the Field: How California Stakeholders View Public Safety Realignment. SSRN, (2014)