At this year's Orange County Women Lawyers Association 42nd Annual Gala, the OCWLA, an affiliate bar of the OCBA, honored OCBA member the Honorable Maria D. Hernandez and Board Member Mary-Christine "M.C." Sungaila as its 2017 Judge of the Year and Attorney of the Year, respectively. The awards were presented on Sept. 14, 2017 at The Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach.

Hernandez currently sits as the Presiding Judge of Juvenile Court for the Superior Court of California in Orange County. Prior to her appointment in March 2009, she was the court commissioner for the Superior Court of Orange County from 2006 to 2009, and also worked as the senior deputy public defender for the Orange County Public Defender's Office from 1995 to 2006. She received her J.D. from Western State College of Law and her B.A. from the University of California, Irvine.

Sungaila is well-known for her expertise as an appellate lawyer. She is a partner at the Orange County office of Haynes and Boone. She recently joined the OCBA Board of Directors, and has also served as a committee leader at the American Bar Association as well as former chair of the OCBA Appellate Law Section. Sungaila is an adjunct professor at Whittier Law School and formerly a lecturer at UC Irvine School of Law. She received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law and her B.A. at Stanford University.

For more event photos, visit the OCWLA Facebook page.