Mary-Christine “M.C.” Sungaila

A shareholder and the chair of Buchalter’s appellate practice group, Sungaila won six cases in 2020, including five in federal court. Upon her arrival at the firm in August 2020 Sungaila built on her decade of adjunct teaching at law schools and her work as the founder and dean of the Orange County Bar Association’s Summer Appellate Academy.

She values teaching law students, including prepping them to argue at the federal appellate level. “I have a good record in clinic work, and I don’t want to break it,” she said.

One mid-April oral argument session was especially challenging. Sungaila oversaw the work of two law students as they argued for a Nicaraguan man seeking to reverse the government’s denial of asylum, withholding of removal and Convention Against Torture claims on political persecution grounds in an immigration case before a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel. The petitioner was persecuted for speaking out against the Sandinista government, Sungaila said. Molina v. Garland, 19-73028 (9th Cir., argued Apr. 14, 2021).

“The panel was real, the gloves were off and it was clear the judges were divided,” she said after her students had made their case in a virtual session. “I was proud of how they responded to some difficult questions. Sometimes the judges use counsel as a foil to make their points to each other.”

The session was clearly a teaching moment as the students, from Loyola Law School, were forced to defend their position under pressure. “They were a little shaken, but they moved right on,” Sungaila said. “They could see why we take so much time to prepare.” Three moot court practice hearings preceded the real thing. “We take this very seriously. It’s a man’s life on the line.”

Sungaila has her own immigration appeals, along with a good many additional appellate challenges. She’s working on a friend of the court brief supporting a U.S. Supreme Court cert petition over informational privacy concerns related to a sex crime. Fox v. Summers, 20-1381 (S.Ct., cert petition filed Mar. 30, 2021).

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that local prosecutors must release to the father of the perpetrator records of the graphic details of felonious sexual battery committed against a minor female. The perpetrator, the victim’s high school teacher and coach, is in prison. The father runs a website defending his son and attacking the victim.

“I like all kinds of appeals, but here we have a developing area of privacy law that involves my sweet spot, advocacy for women,” said Sungaila, who was retained by The Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund to help persuade the high court to grant cert.

— John Roemer