Mary Christine "M.C." Sungaila

Appeals

Newport Beach

A prominent appellate attorney, Mary-Christine (M.C.) Sungaila joined the Complex Appellate Litigation Group in 2022 after having led the appellate departments at Buchalter and at Haynes and Boone, LLP.

"There are advantages to working at an all-appellate firm," she said. "Earlier in my career I worked at [all appellate] Horvitz & Levy, so I'm circling back to that model. In a smaller firm like this, you have fewer conflicts. And everyone is really experienced, so it's great for brainstorming strategy."

While maintaining her full-time practice, Sungaila is currently working on her LLM degree in air and space law by taking remote classes at the University of Mississippi's Center for Air and Space Law. "My classmates include the general counsel of the Canadian space agency and someone from Blue Origin," she said.

"This is a developing field for a new era where there's a need to create new law. I have experience doing that with appellate law, so it fits. And my dad was an engineer on the Apollo mission, so it's in the family."

In late May she spoke on space law and policy at the National Space Society's international space development conference in Los Angeles. "It's like comic con for space," Sungaila said. William Shatner got an award. "We have topics like, 'Should Mars be sovereign?'" Her thesis for the course is on dispute mechanisms in outer space. "It keeps your brain going," she said.

Back on earth, Sungaila is awaiting a ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where she argued in March for the city of Costa Mesa as it defends against a challenge to its sober living home ordinances. She previously consulted on a trial win in the case in district court. The plaintiff claims the ordinances violate the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and state and federal fair housing laws by discriminating against people with addiction. The Ohio House LLC v. City of Costa Mesa, 22-56181 (9th Cir., filed Dec. 16, 2022).

In pro bono work, Sungaila continued her string of successes with students at a Loyola Law School clinic focused on immigration appeals. In one case, she secured a reversal for a pro bono client facing prosecution in China for his membership and activism in the spiritual movement Zhong Gong. Ding v. Garland, 21-70263 (9th Cir., filed Feb. 8, 2021).

She and her law clinic students also prevailed and obtained a reversal in a published opinion for a Nicaraguan man facing political prosecution in his homeland. Molina v. Garland, 19-73028 (9th Cir. filed Nov. 27, 2019).

"We have a pretty good track record--we've won every case," Sungaila said of her pro bono law clinic work. "It's great for the students because not many can say they argued in the 9th Circuit before they passed the bar."

-- John Roemer