David G. Leitch
Ford Motor Company

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, and is responsible for management of the company’s internal audit function. He became Ford’s general counsel on April 1, 2005, and during his time at Ford he has been responsible for legal advice concerning management actions and board duties during the company’s restructuring, including advice regarding a $23.5 billion secured financing, debt restructuring, sale of lines of business such as Volvo, Jaguar, and Land Rover, and discontinuance of Mercury brand.

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, where he played a significant role in responding to the attacks of September 11, 2001. Leitch 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 Talmer Bank and Trust, 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.

William F. Lee
WilmerHale

William F. Lee is a co-managing partner of WilmerHale and is one of the country’s foremost intellectual property and commercial litigation attorneys. He recently served as lead trial counsel for Broadcom in the highly publicized cases between Broadcom and Qualcomm and litigated his client to victory three times in the span of 15 months.

Lee has also acted in federal court trials involving laser optics, video compression, cellular and secure Internet communications, and pharmaceutical products. In December 2007, The American Lawyer featured his ability to lead large teams in trying complex high stakes cases in an extensive piece titled Under Siege. From July 1987 through June 1989, Mr. Lee served as associate counsel to Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh in the Iran-Contra investigation and he has also served as a special assistant to the Massachusetts Attorney General for the purpose of investigating alleged incidents of racial bias in the Commonwealth’s courts.

Lee serves on the Advisory Committee of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and has served on the Advisory Committee of the United States District Court of the District of Massachusetts. He is a Fellow at the American College of Trial Lawyers and has taught at Harvard Law School. He was appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts to serve on a special Judicial Nominating Committee for the selection of judges for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He is a Fellow of the Harvard Corporation.