Simmons & Simmons is to launch a standalone Dutch IT practice with the hire of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary partner Job Rietkerk.

Rietkerk, who had been a partner at DLA Piper's locallybranded arm DLA SchutGrosheide since 2002, will join the top-20 City firm's 111-lawyer Rotterdam office in August after resigning this week.

Rietkerk, who covers contentious and non-contentious work, outsourcing, projects and litigation, will head up Simmons' Dutch technology practice as the firm's first partner-level IT specialist.

Simmons, Rotterdam IP head Willem Leppink told Legal Week that the Dutch practice had been looking to "build on the firm's IP/IT reputation for some time".

He added: "The job is not only a boost for the international IT/ IP practice of Simmons, but also strengthens the full service capability of our Dutch team."

Rietkerk's move follows a number of partner departures at DLA Piper's Dutch arm, with senior litigation partner Huib Blaisse quitting the firm with two associates to launch his own niche practice this month.

In December, former SchutGrosheide managing partner Robert Hein Broekhuijsen, who led the firm into a merger with the legacy UK practice DLA in 2004, announced he was to leave the firm.

One DLA Piper partner said that some partners had "not felt comfortable being part of such a big organisation post-merger".