The University of Minnesota has picked a longtime employee for its next general counsel: William Donohue, the U's deputy general counsel.

Donohue has been deputy general counsel since 1996 and has worked in the Office of the General Counsel since 1982, according to an e-mail Monday from U President Eric Kaler. He earned his law degree at the U, as well.

This pick will bolster the institutional memory of Kaler's leadership team, Kaler said in the e-mail to faculty and staff, noting that two thirds of his direct reports have been working for the university for less than two and a half years.

"Ensuring stability and bringing deep institutional knowledge to this senior leadership role for the near term will be extremely helpful as the new leadership team comes together," Kaler said.

Donohue will serve as the university's top legal officer from late May until June 2015, that note says. He replaces Mark Rotenberg, who is leaving for a similar post at Johns Hopkins University.