Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan London financial services and regulatory partner David Berman has quit to join US rival Latham & Watkins, just months after joining from elite City firm Macfarlanes.

He is the second Quinn partner to exit for Latham's City base this year, after London litigation partner Martin Davies resigned in January.

Berman will join Latham on 1 August as a partner in the financial institutions group, having  only joined Quinn in January this year from Macfarlanes, where he was head of financial services regulation.

He began working for Macfarlanes as a partner in 2009, when he joined from legacy Anglo-German investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort, where his roles included heading up the UK business and client management team. Dresdner Kleinwort was taken over by Commerzbank in 2009.

Berman has direct experience dealing with UK financial services regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and advising on matters including internal investigations.

He advises financial institutions on a range of domestic and cross-border regulatory, compliance and governance-related matters.

Quinn London co-managing partner Richard East said: "We are very disappointed to see him go, but wish him very well. He was the first partner we'd hired in London from a non-contentious background, as we viewed his financial services advisory practice as being a good fit with our existing buy-side litigation expertise. But it didn't work out. We thank him for having the courage and the entrepreneurial flair to give it a go."

Rob Moulton, global co-chair of Latham & Watkins' financial regulation practice and a partner in the firm's London office, said: "We set our sights on establishing the preeminent global practice with the ability to tackle the most complex regulatory matters of our financial institution clients. David has a tremendous market standing and will be a great addition to our existing strong team."