Linklaters has appointed Rebecca Jarvis and Richard Bussell as global co-heads of restructuring and insolvency for a four-year term.

The pair succeeds Tony Bugg who was recently appointed as global head of banking following previous banking head Gideon Moore's elevation to firm-wide managing partner in January.

Jarvis (pictured), who was made partner in 2001, advises banks, corporations and insolvency practitioners in connection with non-contentious restructuring and insolvency work.

Bussell has been a partner since 2002, he advises on financial and corporate restructurings on behalf of banks and corporate clients.

Bugg said: "Rebecca and Richard have worked on some of the biggest restructuring and insolvency cases we've ever seen and these appointments will allow us to continue to provide market leading client coverage across our markets and sectors."

The promotions follow the news that the magic circle firm has been awarded social mobility champion status by the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), alongside Baker & McKenzie, for its work in the area earlier this week.

Linklaters and Bakers are the only law firms on the 11-strong list that also includes accountants KPMG, EY, Grant Thornton and Deloitte, consultant Accenture, apprenticeships business Aspire Group, pensions company Standard Life, housing company Mears Group and Telefonica O2.

Linklaters graduate recruitment partner Simon Branigan said: "As a business and a firm social mobility is absolutely at the top of our agenda. There is a real business rationale for ensuring we recruit the right people, those with the real potential to do this job and not just those who through luck and good fortune have had a better start in life."

The magic circle firm's social mobility initiatives begin with schoolchildren and run through to trainees at the firm.

Linklaters works with Northumberland Park Community School in Tottenham and Clapton Girls Academy in Hackney, offering mentoring, tutoring and work experience. "It is in order to show those students that if they work hard and they have the interest, passion and potential, a firm like Linklaters should not be off limits to them," Branigan said.

It is also one of three firms, alongside Hogan Lovells and DLA Piper, to sign up to the Sutton Trust pathways plus programme to support less privileged law students.

Linklaters is actively targeting 50 universities for graduate recruitment and has broadened the pool of the universities it recruits from, climbing from 20 four years ago, to 34 in its last recruitment cohort.

Both Baker & McKenzie and Linklaters have committed to using the Rare contextual recruitment software tool, which is designed to make it easier to identify standout candidates regardless of background.

Baker & McKenzie has a full-time diversity partner, Sarah Gregory, who took up the role full time in 2014, after chairing the firm's diversity committee in London since 2010.