Mary-Christine “M.C.” Sungaila

Sungaila’s success as an appellate litigator continued to grow as she started 2018 with two wins in two months at the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The first challenged a district court’s invalidation of employment arbitration agreement, and the appellate court ruled in Sungaila’s favor in February, one week after her oral argument. Nabors v. Ridgeway, 15-56675 (9th Cir. Feb. 13, 2018).

Then in March, she argued on behalf of Mentor Graphics Corp. as a respondent in an appeal over a district court’s dismissal of a breach of fiduciary complaint. The plaintiffs were minority shareholders who argued on appeal that the parties’ Delaware choice-of-law provision is unenforceable, and California fiduciary duty law should apply. The appellate panel affirmed the district court decision in April. Kaul v. Mentor Graphics Corp., 16-17139 (9th Cir. April 16, 2018).

“Two wins in two months in the 9th Circuit feels pretty good,” Sungaila said.

The wins follow major reversal in 2017 involving a 9th Circuit remand that revived a gay Mexican man’s asylum bid. As a lecturer with UC Irvine Law School’s appellate clinic, Sungaila led a team of students in the groundbreaking case that overturned previous case law establishing heightened requirements for child sex abuse victims who are seeking asylum and didn’t report the abuse to authorities.

A divided 9th Circuit in March 2017 granted a petition for review of a previous Board of Immigration Appeals decision that denied the man’s asylum bid. The appellate court also ordered the board to consider new evidence about the man’s HIV diagnosis. Rodriguez v. Sessions, 13-72682 (9th Cir. March 8, 2017).

Sungaila also in 2016 won a similar petition before the 9th Circuit on behalf of a transgender woman from Mexico who also was seeking asylum in the United States in what experts hailed as a major advance for transgender rights in immigration law. Avendao-Hernandez v. Lynch, 800 F.3d 1072 (9th Cir. Sept. 3, 2015).

Sungaila also frequently is retained to write amicus briefs in major actions, including on behalf of Bet Tzedek Legal Services in support of heirs to an Impressionist painting stolen by the Nazis on the eve of World War II. The 9th Circuit reversed a district court summary judgment last year. Cassirer, et al v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, 15-55550 (9th Cir. July 10, 2017).

A graduate of UCLA School of Law, Sungila embraced appellate work after trying her hand at trials.

“I felt badly for witnesses if I had to cross-examine them, so I realized I’m probably not a trial lawyer,” Sungaila said. “Right after a trial I had, I wrote my first amicus brief.”

— Meghann M. Cuniff