Dentons is set to launch in Peru through a proposed combination with local firm Gallo Barrios Pickmann.

Both firms' partnerships will vote on the combination within the next few weeks and if successful, it will launch later this year.

Gallo Barrios Pickmann is based in Lima and has six partners and 12 associates.

Dentons global chief executive Elliott Portnoy said: "With this combination we are truly poised to become one of the leading firms in Latin America. We are growing faster there, and with truly high quality firms, than anyone has ever done before."

Earlier this year, the firm established a presence in Central America with the launch of Dentons Munoz through a tie-up with Costa Rica-based firm Munoz Global, a move that gave the firm bases in Panama and Nicaragua.

Dentons announced a proposed strategic alliance earlier this month with Brazilian firm Vella Pugliese Buosi Guidoni, also due to launch later this year.

In 2016, the firm announced it would launch Dentons Lopez Velarde in Monterrey, Mexico.

The firm also established Dentons Cardenas & Cardenas in Colombia in 2015, and formed Dentons Barbados.

Meanwhile, Dentons has axed five lawyer roles in Watford, including two partners and three solicitors, alongside a paralegal and three secretaries.

The firm opened in Watford with the hire of a 75-strong team from Matthew Arnold & Baldwin in January 2016, with the planned redundancies therefore equating to 12% of the team as it stood then.

The firm's intention to cut the roles emerged in March, a year on from opening in the town.