Donohue was most recently a partner in the New York office at Morgan Lewis & Bockius. He also previously served as head of the investment management division at the Securities and Exchange Commission, between May 2006 and November 2010. At Goldman Sachs, he will report to Ellen Porges, general counsel for the firm's asset management unit.

According to the report, Donohue believes he can make more of an impact in-house. "I like being part of the discussions with management about issues and approaches the firm can take early on," he reportedly told Reuters.

The firm had not responded to a request to confirm the move in time before publication.

In other recent developments, last month it emerged that the Wall Street giant's long-standing chief financial officer, David Viniar, is stepping down after over three decades at the firm, to be replaced by the bank's current global co-head of securities. Harvey Schwartz will take the reins as CFO at the end of January 2013.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management has $702 billion in assets under management.