Niche IT firm Kemp & Co has launched an employment practice by poaching a senior lawyer from Eversheds' Birmingham office.

Sarah Winter, a senior associate at Eversheds, will join the firm as a salaried partner on 1 November and will give the firm a litigation capacity for the first time.

Her arrival will bring the number of partners at Kemp & Co to four. IT lawyer Kenny Mullen became a salaried partner at the firm this week, joining name partner Richard Kemp and former Bird & Bird lawyer Jonathon Little.

Kemp & Co recently saw the departure to Osborne Clarke of salaried partner Ashley Winton, who came with Kemp from Garretts to launch the firm in November 1997.

Commenting on her move, Winter said: "The excitement for me is starting with a blank sheet of paper."

Kemp, who revealed the plan to branch out into employment law in an interview with Legal Week in June, said: "Like IT law, employment is an area where you don't need the resources of a large firm to practice to the highest standard.

"People and intellectual property are the two most important assets for most businesses to achieve competitive advantage today."