Addleshaw Goddard has hired Eversheds' health and life sciences head Bill Gilliam, in a move to build its Leeds office and litigation team.

The firm said Gilliam's hire was central to its plans to expand its large complex disputes work in the healthcare sector.

Gilliam, a complex disputes lawyer with experience in the healthcare, IT, public and procurement sectors, joined this month.

While at Eversheds, he worked on a number of high-profile cases, including the successful resolution of procurement disputes for Covent Garden Market Authority and Roche Diagnostics, and assisting with the inquiry into care at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust.

He was also seconded to the government as acting head of legal in the commercial directorate of the Department of Health.

Eversheds confirmed Cambridge-based technology partner Simon Crossley has taken over from Gilliam as head of the health and life sciences team.

"Bill is a highly skilled technical lawyer with a proven track record of litigating large scale disputes for a client base similar to our own – indeed for several major clients we already represent," commented Addleshaw Goddard litigation head Simon Kamstra.

Commenting on the litigation team's further plans, Kamstra added: "We plan to keep the momentum going in 2014, through further targeted investment in specialist personnel."

Other significant recent hires for Addleshaws litigation department include Nigel Francis, the former Minter Ellison litigation head who helped launch the firm's formal association in Hong Kong last year, and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom lawyer Kambiz Larizadeh, who joined as a partner in London last July.