Megan Cunniff Church is a highly accomplished trial lawyer who represents companies and individuals in high-stakes civil litigation and criminal and regulatory matters. She conducts corporate internal investigations in the U.S. and abroad, and she advises clients on crisis and risk management.
As a former federal prosecutor, Ms. Church has extensive experience investigating, litigating, and successfully resolving white collar criminal and regulatory matters. She served as a Deputy Chief of the Financial Crimes section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, where she prosecuted and supervised complex health care fraud, tax fraud, and corporate and financial crimes cases. She also served as a Deputy Chief of the General Crimes section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where she trained and supervised new prosecutors on federal criminal practice.
In nearly a decade as an Assistant United States Attorney, Ms. Church investigated and prosecuted a wide range of federal crimes, including bank fraud, mail and wire fraud, public corruption, money laundering, narcotics and weapons violations, international drug trafficking, identity theft, cybercrimes, embezzlement, human trafficking, and organized crime. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney assigned to the Public Corruption section, Ms. Church prosecuted and convicted numerous public officials and law enforcement officers for fraud, bribery, extortion, and tax offenses.
In her white-collar practice at MoloLamken, Ms. Church has conducted internal investigations of publicly-traded companies, public agencies, and not-for-profit entities. She has represented corporate and government officials in investigations and prosecutions by various U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the Department of Justice, inspectors general, Congress, the SEC, the CFTC, and other government regulators. In addition to representing targets and subjects in criminal and regulatory investigations, Ms. Church has represented key witnesses during investigations and subsequent trials. Along with other members of the MoloLamken team, Ms. Church recently secured an acquittal in a campaign finance prosecution following a jury trial in federal court in Washington, D.C.
In her civil practice, Ms. Church has represented plaintiffs and defendants in business disputes involving allegations of market manipulation, antitrust violations, regulatory violations, professional malpractice and misconduct, and breach of contract in federal and state courts around the country and in arbitration forums.
Ms. Church has tried 20 cases to verdict, and she has briefed and argued nearly a dozen federal circuit appeals.
Ms. Church has taught trial advocacy at the University of Chicago Law School and Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She currently serves on the Illinois Supreme Court’s Committee on Character and Fitness.
Previously Ms. Church was an associate with Baker & McKenzie and with McDermott Will & Emery. She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable William J. Bauer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and to the Honorable Joan H. Lefkow of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Updated Aug 2024
