WilmerHale has hired Dentons partner Anthony Trenton in London, as part of an effort to tap into the European intellectual property (IP) market.

Trenton, who joins WilmerHale this week, becomes the US firm's fourteenth partner in the City, and will spearhead the development of the IP litigation practice in London.

Previously head of Dentons' patents practice in the UK, Trenton had been in discussions to join WilmerHale since last year.

The appointment follows the hire of English-qualified Bird & Bird IP partner Trevor Cook, who last October resigned from his former firm after 32 years to join WilmerHale's New York office.

Cook, who co-headed Two Birds' international life sciences group, joined at the start of this year, to support the strategic expansion of the firm's IP litigation offering outside the US.

Trenton will work alongside Cook, acting as a bridge between the firm's US client base and English law matters.

"It's the pre-eminent IP litigation practice in the US, and that's what's so exciting," Trenton told Legal Week.

"Increasingly, patent litigation is becoming global. WilmerHale's continuing international expansion of its world-class IP Litigation practice enables the firm to best serve clients in this field."

Trenton joined legacy Denton Wilde Sapte from Taylor Wessing in 2005, and became a partner two years later.

He is also a solicitor advocate and added that his practice may involve arbitration matters.

He previously represented Californian pharmaceutical company Kirin-Amgen in a biotechnology patent infringement case in the House of Lords in 2004, as well as a patent infringement action about intermediate bulk containers that went to the Supreme Court.