Milberg Weiss competition partner Reuben Guttman has left the embattled class action specialist to launch US rival Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz’s Washington DC office, as it emerges the firm has lost almost a fifth of its partners in two months.

Guttman, who previously headed up Milberg’s Washington arm, joins the 70-lawyer Wolf Haldenstein, which has five offices and is headquartered in New York. He focuses on class action litigation, including false claims cases.