Field Fisher Waterhouse has boosted its intellectual property (IP) and technology dispute resolution practice with the hire of partner Andrew Dodd from DLA Piper.

Dodd, who is set to join Field Fisher on 8 September, is leaving DLA Piper after seven years with the firm. He will take Field Fisher's IP and technology dispute practice to seven partners, in addition to 14 other lawyers.

Prior to working at DLA Piper, Dodd held roles at Denton Wilde Sapte and Stephenson Harwood. He primarily advises on prosecution and defence of contracts relating to IT and telecommunications agreements. He has advised clients including IT groups EDS and TranSys as well as telecommunications companies COLT and Symbian in the past.

His hire is the third this year for Field Fisher in the telecommunications and technology sector, after bringing in partners Katrina Dick and Hamish Sandison from Lovells and Bird & Bird respectively.

The firm's head of IP and technology dispute resolution, Nick Rose, said: "The firm has a strong telecoms sector capability with a range of clients including Orange and Liberty Global, and Andrew's expertise in contentious work will be a great asset."

Dodd's departure is unrelated to the recent round of redundancies DLA Piper announced in its technology, media and commercial group. The firm announced at the beginning of the month that it was laying people off in the group with five London fee earners understood to have been affected so far.