Two new recruits have joined the legal team at Optimum Professional Services.

The specialist law and accountancy firm, with offices in Cheltenham and Swindon, has appointed Tara Screen and Julie Loveridge.

Tara is a chartered legal executive and has a 20-year career in legal services. At Optimum, she is based with the residential conveyancing team, specialising in freehold and leasehold sale and purchase, transfers, re-mortgages, shared ownership and Help to Buy transactions.

Julie has joined as legal assistant, and has a background in administration in the banking and finance sector.

Iain Mason, head of legal at Optimum, said Tara and Julie were great additions to the team. "We are delighted to welcome Tara and Julie to Optimum, to help us support our growing client base.

"Conveyancing has been extremely buoyant since the pandemic and we expect this to continue. We also have the advantage at Optimum of being able to offer our legal clients wider services, via our accountancy team, and vice versa."

Optimum's accountancy division has also recruited new team members recently. Joining the Cheltenham office are accounts senior Matthew Littler, and bookkeeper Larissa Hall. Matthew is qualified to AAT level and is now working towards his chartered status. Larissa has worked in a number of sectors, including banking, law, private client and construction.

Michael Blaken, accounts director, said: "Our team continues to grow, as our workload grows, and much of this is due to our multidisciplinary business. We are still almost unique in the Swindon and Cheltenham area for offering both legal and accountancy, providing a seamless and convenient service for our clients."

Optimum's legal team specialise in commercial and residential conveyancing, wills and lasting powers of attorney. The accountancy team offers accounts, audit and assurance, business planning and tax planning, bookkeeping and payroll.