Allen & Overy hired 25 new partners in the United States in 2021, making a splash in both Northern and Southern California. Recently hired global technology co-head Bijal Vakil credits the firm’s modified lockstep compensation as a key part of its appeal to new talent. 

With Cravath, Swaine & Moore announcing last week that it had abandoned its pure lockstep system, the number of modified lockstep firms operating in the U.S. ticked upward. Firms using compensation systems that assign some value to seniority remain a small minority, but they’re also making inroads into the competitive Bay Area marketplace.