Sandra Magalang

Sandra Magalang is an LL.M. student at Yale Law School. Prior to Yale, she was a Senior Associate at Poblador Bautista & Reyes Law Offices, specializing in litigation and dispute resolution. She has appeared before the Supreme Court of the Philippines in two important constitutional litigation cases: Poe-Llamanzares v. Commission on Elections (G.R. No. 221697-700, 8 March 2016), representing an incumbent Senator, and Republic v. Sereno (G.R. No. 237428, 11 May 2018), representing a former Chief Justice during impeachment and subsequent quo warranto proceedings against her. The former case led to the legal recognition of the right of foundlings to natural-born citizenship, previously a gray area in Philippine law. Sandra’s research interests lie in the field of comparative constitutional law, international law, and East and Southeast Asian legal studies. She aspires to do a doctoral dissertation on the impact of US-imposed constitutionalism in the development of democratic institutions in Japan and the Philippines. Sandra received her Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, and her Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from the University of the Philippines. She ranked third in the 2014 Philippine Bar Examinations. Sandra also has substantial experience in commercial litigation, including domestic and international arbitration.