Foley Hoag Partner Michael B. Keating, a chairman of the firm’s litigation department, has been elected chair of the Boston Foundation board of directors. 

Keating succeeds the Rev. Ray Hammond, a Boston clergyman who had served as chair since 2002 and stepped down due to term limits.

With approximately $760 million in assets, the foundation is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the country and devotes its considerable resources to building and sustaining a vital, prosperous city and region, through grant-making and high-impact philanthropy, the foundation said in a statement.

Keating assumes the role at a critical time, in an uncertain economic climate, the foundation said. He has been a board member since 2004.