By Erin Geiger Smith

Dec 13 (Reuters) - James Chosy will become U.S. Bancorp's executive vice president and general counsel as of March 1, the company announced.

Chosy currently serves as general counsel and secretary of investment bank Piper Jaffray Companies, which, like U.S. Bancorp, is based in Minneapolis.

He will take over for U.S. Bancorp's current vice president and general counsel, Lee Mitau, who is retiring. Mitau has served in the position since 1995 and prior to that was a partner at Dorsey & Whitney.

Chosy will join U.S. Bancorp in late January so he can work with Mitau through a short transition period, a spokesman for the bank said.

It is a return trip to U.S. Bancorp for Chosy. Before joining Piper Jaffray in 2001, he served as associate general counsel at the bank. He began his career with Dorsey.

U.S. Bancorp has more than $350 billion in assets and is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the 5th-largest commercial bank in the United States.

Two other executives will also assume new positions at the bank in March. Current executive vice president of community banking, James Elmore, will become vice chairman of community banking and branch delivery. Kent Stone, who is executive vice president of consumer banking, will become vice chairman of consumer banking and sales support.

Mitau and Chosy were not immediately available for comment. Piper Jaffray did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Follow us on Twitter @ReutersLegal | Like us on Facebook