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- Joined Ford: April 1, 2005
David G. Leitch is general counsel and a group vice president of Ford Motor Company, where he leads the company’s litigation, tax, corporate, and intellectual property efforts. He also advises the company’s Board of Directors and senior management on a wide range of legal issues, and oversees its General Auditor’s Office.
Since Leitch arrived at Ford six years ago, he and Ford’s Office of General Counsel have won numerous awards, including being named as Corporate Counsel magazine’s Best Legal Department in 2006. He has been profiled and quoted in Corporate Counsel and Inside Counsel magazines, and was most recently honored as the Overall Winner of the General and In-House Counsel Awards by Crain’s Detroit Business.
Immediately prior to joining Ford, Leitch served in the White House as Deputy Counsel to President George W. Bush. In that capacity, he advised the President and his staff on a variety of legal issues, including issues involving national security, judicial nominations, legislative proposals and ethics. From June 2001 through December 2002, Leitch served as Chief Counsel for the Federal Aviation Administration. He is also a past deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel.
Leitch’s law career includes serving as law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, as a law clerk to Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, III, and as a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Hogan & Hartson, L.L.P. (now Hogan Lovells). Leitch is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where he graduated first in his class, and received his undergraduate degree from Duke University.
Leitch is a member of the board of directors of the Detroit Institute of Arts and of First Michigan Bank, and serves on general counsel advisory committees for the National Center for State Courts and the Civil Justice Reform Group. He also serves as Chair of the Supreme Court Fellows Commission, a position to which he was appointed by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and as Chair of board of the National Chamber Litigation Center.
April 12, 2011