Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy has launched a commercial litigation practice in London, hiring DLA Piper partner Julian Stait to work on technology disputes.

Stait, a former head of technology, media and communications (TMC) at DLA Piper, will work in Milbank’s two-partner IT and outsourcing team.

Milbank now has 13 partners in London under European managing partner Phillip Fletcher.

Stait was DLA Piper TMC head for five years until 2005, and then head of dispute resolution in Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA) until 2007.

Milbank launched in London in 1978, but has grown more cautiously than other US firms in the City.

In the latest promotions round, which for Milbank was in November 2008, the firm’s London office received no new partners for the second year running.