US tech leader Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has named corporate rainmaker Steven Bochner as its new chief executive.

The firm announced on Tuesday (11 August) that, after a unanimous partner vote, Bochner would be taking over from partner John Roos, who was confirmed as US ambassador to Japan last week.

Roos, who had been chief executive since 2005, spent most of his time on management, but Bochner said he hopes to continue practising full time. "I will have to scale back to a degree, but I am not going to give up my practice," he said. "I have got a great team working with me and supporting me."

Wilson, which has 600 lawyers across seven offices in the US and one in Shanghai, has a history of referring work to UK firms with a focus on technology and media.

In 2004 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer took the lead on ARM Holdings' $913m (£550m) purchase of Artisan Components after a Wilson Sonsini referral, while Bird & Bird and Osborne Clarke have also benefited from links with the respected US firm.

Bochner said the new post will be an interesting challenge at this point in his career.

"I have been at the firm quite a while and enjoyed the management," he said. "I have also enjoyed my practice; I was asked and I was flattered to accept."

Bochner said the firm will continue to focus on both early-stage and public companies, and is likely to consider geographic expansion, particularly in China. He said intellectual property litigation and the firm's East Coast regulatory and corporate finance are potential growth areas, and clean tech, energy and mobile computing are all attracting venture financing.

Bochner, who has served on the policy committee and as chair of the firm's compensation committee, is also a member of Wilson Sonsini's board of directors. In addition, he is co-chair of the Practising Law Institute's Annual Institute on Securities Regulation in New York, and an executive committee member of the Northwestern Securities Regulation Institute in San Diego.

"He has made himself a very visible person on the national legal scene," said Richard Climan, a Dewey & LeBoeuf corporate partner in Silicon Valley. "He is a superb choice to fill that position at Wilson."

San Francisco recruiter Gary Davis commented: "The soul of what the firm does is corporate. Steven happens to be one of the more beloved partners, accomplished in his own regard."

Davis also described Bochner as an intellectual and hardworking Silicon Valley lawyer who is not been one to seek the spotlight. He said he sees Bochner as a "reluctant" leader, "a loyal Wilson soldier, who steps in when his country asks him to lead."

This article first apperared in The Recorder, a US sister title of Legal Week.