By Brian Baxter, From The Am Law Daily

Takata has confirmed its retention of Dechert chairman Andrew Levander to oversee the embattled Japanese auto parts company’s outside counsel efforts as it copes with a bevy of legal issues emanating from the alleged production of defective airbags.

Reuters first had the news late Tuesday of Takata’s hire of Dechert, noting that Levander will lead teams of lawyers from the firm handling a criminal probe, congressional inquiry and class action litigation against the company over faulty inflators that cause airbags to explode and send shrapnel into vehicles that can kill or maim drivers and passengers.

A Dechert spokeswoman told The Am Law Daily that besides Levander—who took the leadership reins at Dechert four years ago—three others from the firm have taken the lead for Takata in litigation partners Steven Bradbury, Hector Gonzalez and David Bernick. Bradbury and Gonzalez will represent Takata executives Thursday at a hearing before a U.S. Senate Commerce Committee seeking testimony on the company’s defective airbags.

Gonzalez, who is based in New York, left Mayer Brown for Dechert in July 2011. The Litigation Daily, a sibling publication, named Gonzalez a Litigator of the Week earlier this year for his work representing Bank of New York Mellon in mortgage-backed securities litigation that led to an $8.5 billion settlement with Bank of America.

Bradbury, who is based in Washington, D.C., joined Dechert in July 2009 after serving as head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, where he once argued in favor of the legality of waterboarding terrorist detainees, as noted by sibling publication The Legal Intelligencer. Before joining the Justice Department in 2004, Bradbury was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis.

Bernick, another former Kirkland litigation partner, joined Dechert in August 2013 after a brief stint at Boies, Schiller & Flexner. Bernick, who spent two years earlier this decade as general counsel of Philip Morris International, has taken the lead representing Takata in the more than 20 product liability class action suits filed against the company as a result of its airbag fiasco.

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, a Seattle-based plaintiffs firm that last year secured a $1.6 billion settlement from Japanese auto giant Toyota over faulty accelerators, is one of several firms that have filed class actions against Takata. Toyota is one of several automakers—others include Chrysler, Ford and Honda—being asked by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this week to recall additional vehicles in order to replace potentially defective Takata airbag inflators.

Don Schiemann serves as general counsel for TK Holdings, the Auburn Hills, Mich.-based U.S. unit of Takata. He did not respond to a request for information on the names of any other outside firms retained by Takata. The airbag affair isn’t the company’s only pressing legal issue.

Takata is also dealing with a seatbelt price-fixing probe by the Justice Department’s antitrust division that has resulted in criminal charges against 35 executives, four of whom have pleaded guilty. Last year Takata agreed to pay $71.3 million to settle the charges against the company. A plea agreement with the Justice Department shows that Takata retained Williams & Connolly to handle the matter.

IMAGE: Andrew Levander (L), David Bernick (R)

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