David Leitch didn’t know what he was in for when he became general counsel of Ford Motor Company five years ago.

One thing he wasn’t expecting was another crisis. He’d dealt with two in his previous jobs. Leitch was chief counsel of the Federal Aviation Administration on the worst day in the history of American flight: Sept. 11, 2001. And he’d been deputy counsel to President George W. Bush when the United States invaded Iraq two years later. The Ford job figured to be an easier ride.