Sara A. McDermott

Sara A. McDermott

Sara McDermott (she/her) is a litigator in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson.

Sara’s practice focuses on high-stakes complex commercial litigation trials and appeals. She has experience litigating cases at all stages, including taking and defending depositions, writing dispositive motions, managing all aspects of discovery, examining witnesses at trial, and representing clients on appeal. She has argued motions and tried cases in state courts, federal courts, and arbitration tribunals.

Most recently, for example, Sara has represented Berkshire Hathaway in a billion-dollar dispute with Pilot Corporation regarding the Pilot Flying J truck stop chain; Netflix, in favorably settling and obtaining dismissal of a $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit over its streaming series “Stranger Things”; and FIGS, a medical apparel company, and its co-founders against Lanham Act false advertising and state law intentional interference and unfair competition claims brought by the main industry incumbent. That matter resulted in a full and complete defense verdict following a three-week federal jury trial in the Central District of California, which achieved American Lawyer Litigator of the Week Runner-Up recognition and designation by the Daily Journal as a Top Defense Verdict of 2022.

Sara maintains an active pro bono practice and presence in the community, with a focus on securing and protecting the constitutional rights of incarcerated youth and adults. In December 2024, Sara argued in the California Supreme Court on behalf of a prisoner challenging the constitutionality of California Penal Code 3051. She is secretary of the Pacific Juvenile Defender Center’s Executive Board of Directors. She has been honored with the ACLU’s Humanitarian Award for her work bringing writs of mandamus in the California Supreme Court concerning conditions of confinement in detention facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Within the firm, Sara was recognized as a 2024 Mentor of the Year. She has served as co-chair of the Jay Fujitani 1L Summer Program committee (2021–2023) and associate representative to the Management Committee (2020–2021).

Prior to joining the firm, Sara clerked for Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and Judge A. Wallace Tashima of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She was a Michael T. Masin scholar at UCLA School of Law and served as an editor for UCLA Law Review’s Discourse.

Experience

Key Representations

  • Berkshire Hathaway, in a billion-dollar dispute with Pilot Corporation regarding the Pilot Flying J truck stop chain. Two days before trial was set to begin in Delaware Chancery Court, the parties reached a settlement under which Berkshire acquired 100% of the company.
  • Netflix, in favorably settling and obtaining dismissal of a $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Irish Rover Entertainment over Netflix’s streaming series, “Stranger Things.” Irish Rover alleged that Netflix and Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer, as well as visual effects artist Aaron Sims, copied an unpublished Irish Rover script, Totem, to make the hit show.
  • Onyx Pharmaceuticals, now part of Amgen, in an appeal of an adverse decision that Onyx’s directors and officers insurance policy does not cover settling claims from shareholders who alleged the company was sold for too low a price. This appeal will be the first to definitively resolve these coverage issues under California law.
  • FIGS, Inc., and its co-founders in obtaining a full and complete defense verdict for the medical apparel company against $100 million in false advertising, intentional interference with prospective economic relations and unfair competition claims brought by industry incumbent Careismatic Brands (formerly Strategic Partners, Inc.).
  • MGM Resorts International, in an investigation into allegations of money laundering. Following a settlement in 2024, Sara currently advises MGMRI in navigating an agreed-upon reviewership that is expected to last two years.
  • First Student, Inc., the nation’s largest school bus company, in achieving a confidential settlement in trade secret litigation with Zum Services, Inc., after First Student alleged that Zum hired a First Student employee to help Zum compete for a San Francisco Unified School District contract.
  • Intel Corp., in the multijurisdictional sale of its NAND memory fabrication, solid-state drive and technology business to SK hynix for $9 billion. The transaction, one of the largest in Intel’s history, involved establishing an unconventional two-close structure.
  • Block (fka Square, Inc.), in Ruark v. Square, a privacy class action alleging that Square violated various state and federal privacy laws, including California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) and HIPAA. After a motion to dismiss the claims, the case settled favorably on an individual, non-class basis.
  • Southern California Edison, in successfully defending on appeal a grant of summary judgment for SCE in Barber et al. v. Southern California Edison Company, a case in which the plaintiffs claimed that a family was experiencing electrical shocks on their property because of alleged stray voltage from a nearby SCE substation.
  • A security services provider in a complex employment class action, obtaining a victory that was recognized as a Top Defense Verdict of the Year by the Daily Journal.

Pro Bono

Key Representations

  • Argued in the California Supreme Court on behalf of a prisoner challenging the constitutionality of California Penal Code 3051.
  • A prisoner, in opposing a written petition brought against the California Board of Parole Hearings challenging the constitutionality of SB 394, ultimately securing transfer of the case to juvenile court and the prisoner’s release on probation.
  • The ACLU of Orange County, in a significant victory in a lawsuit challenging the Orange County Sheriff’s response to COVID-19 at the Orange County Jail.
  • A class of all people incarcerated in the Tulare County Jail, in Tulare County, California, in successfully negotiating a class settlement that required the jail to adopt and follow COVID-19 protective policies.
  • A class of medically vulnerable inmates at the Santa Rita Jail, in Alameda County, California, during the COVID-19 pandemic, in successfully negotiating a settlement that guaranteed COVID-19 testing.
  • A feminist woman, in a successful appeal to the Ninth Circuit from a Board of Immigration Appeals decision denying her asylum. The Ninth Circuit held that the woman’s feminist beliefs qualified as a political opinion.
  • A transgender woman, in successfully convincing an immigration judge to rule in her favor of her asylum claim after years of discrimination and abuse in El Salvador.

Publications

Calibrating the Eighth Amendment: Graham, Miller, and the Right to Mental Healthcare in Juvenile Prison, 63 UCLA Law Review 712 (2016)

Practice Areas

Industries

Education

  • UCLA School of Law (J.D., 2015)

  • Cornell University (B.A., summa cum laude, 2010)

Clerkships

  • Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 2016-2017
  • Judge A. Wallace Tashima, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2015-2016

Bar Admissions

  • California

Experience

Key Representations

  • Berkshire Hathaway, in a billion-dollar dispute with Pilot Corporation regarding the Pilot Flying J truck stop chain. Two days before trial was set to begin in Delaware Chancery Court, the parties reached a settlement under which Berkshire acquired 100% of the company.
  • Netflix, in favorably settling and obtaining dismissal of a $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Irish Rover Entertainment over Netflix’s streaming series, “Stranger Things.” Irish Rover alleged that Netflix and Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer, as well as visual effects artist Aaron Sims, copied an unpublished Irish Rover script, Totem, to make the hit show.
  • Onyx Pharmaceuticals, now part of Amgen, in an appeal of an adverse decision that Onyx’s directors and officers insurance policy does not cover settling claims from shareholders who alleged the company was sold for too low a price. This appeal will be the first to definitively resolve these coverage issues under California law.
  • FIGS, Inc., and its co-founders in obtaining a full and complete defense verdict for the medical apparel company against $100 million in false advertising, intentional interference with prospective economic relations and unfair competition claims brought by industry incumbent Careismatic Brands (formerly Strategic Partners, Inc.).
  • MGM Resorts International, in an investigation into allegations of money laundering. Following a settlement in 2024, Sara currently advises MGMRI in navigating an agreed-upon reviewership that is expected to last two years.
  • First Student, Inc., the nation’s largest school bus company, in achieving a confidential settlement in trade secret litigation with Zum Services, Inc., after First Student alleged that Zum hired a First Student employee to help Zum compete for a San Francisco Unified School District contract.
  • Intel Corp., in the multijurisdictional sale of its NAND memory fabrication, solid-state drive and technology business to SK hynix for $9 billion. The transaction, one of the largest in Intel’s history, involved establishing an unconventional two-close structure.
  • Block (fka Square, Inc.), in Ruark v. Square, a privacy class action alleging that Square violated various state and federal privacy laws, including California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) and HIPAA. After a motion to dismiss the claims, the case settled favorably on an individual, non-class basis.
  • Southern California Edison, in successfully defending on appeal a grant of summary judgment for SCE in Barber et al. v. Southern California Edison Company, a case in which the plaintiffs claimed that a family was experiencing electrical shocks on their property because of alleged stray voltage from a nearby SCE substation.
  • A security services provider in a complex employment class action, obtaining a victory that was recognized as a Top Defense Verdict of the Year by the Daily Journal.

Pro Bono

Key Representations

  • Argued in the California Supreme Court on behalf of a prisoner challenging the constitutionality of California Penal Code 3051.
  • A prisoner, in opposing a written petition brought against the California Board of Parole Hearings challenging the constitutionality of SB 394, ultimately securing transfer of the case to juvenile court and the prisoner’s release on probation.
  • The ACLU of Orange County, in a significant victory in a lawsuit challenging the Orange County Sheriff’s response to COVID-19 at the Orange County Jail.
  • A class of all people incarcerated in the Tulare County Jail, in Tulare County, California, in successfully negotiating a class settlement that required the jail to adopt and follow COVID-19 protective policies.
  • A class of medically vulnerable inmates at the Santa Rita Jail, in Alameda County, California, during the COVID-19 pandemic, in successfully negotiating a settlement that guaranteed COVID-19 testing.
  • A feminist woman, in a successful appeal to the Ninth Circuit from a Board of Immigration Appeals decision denying her asylum. The Ninth Circuit held that the woman’s feminist beliefs qualified as a political opinion.
  • A transgender woman, in successfully convincing an immigration judge to rule in her favor of her asylum claim after years of discrimination and abuse in El Salvador.

Publications

Calibrating the Eighth Amendment: Graham, Miller, and the Right to Mental Healthcare in Juvenile Prison, 63 UCLA Law Review 712 (2016)

Practice Areas

Industries

Education

  • UCLA School of Law (J.D., 2015)

  • Cornell University (B.A., summa cum laude, 2010)

Clerkships

  • Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 2016-2017
  • Judge A. Wallace Tashima, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2015-2016

Bar Admissions

  • California