(Reuters) - Three months into its experiment with cloud-based lawyering, Husch Blackwell is already calling its new virtual "office" a success, pointing to new additions and predicting the model will spread.

J.Y. Miller, managing partner of The Link - the firm's name for the office - said it has expanded "faster than planned," adding eight people since it launched with 50 lawyers and staff in July. And as continued remote work during the pandemic has altered law firms' real estate and recruiting calculus, he said other firms are watching closely.

The Link's members are spread across 10 cities, and Husch Blackwell intends to add lawyers in locations across the country, such as along the East and West Coasts, where it doesn't have a physical presence, to better support practices and clients, Miller said.

Three of The Link's new attorneys are new to the firm, Miller said, including senior counsel Elizabeth Benefield, who joined in August in North Carolina - a new state for Husch Blackwell.

The Kansas City, Missouri-based firm has more than 700 attorneys and said The Link is its 21st office.

Miller said several law firm leaders have reached out to Husch Blackwell to discuss the virtual office since its launch.

Complementing a brick-and-mortar footprint with virtual hires may appeal to other firms whose leaders are rethinking geographic boundaries and office needs in a post-pandemic world. A willingness to recruit virtually may also open them up to a broader talent pool.

"This is definitely going to be a trend in our industry in the future," he said.

According to a report this week from British Columbia-based legal technology company Clio, future law firms will be "cloud-based by design." Survey data showed that 76% of legal professionals think legal services can be streamlined when handled virtually. Whether or not lawyers maintain physical offices, remote services will "continue to be essential for any legal practice," the report said.

A move toward cloud-based services may extend to law firm support services as well. Winston & Strawn last month unveiled a new virtual back office, with a spokeswoman citing a "fundamental shift" in how clients and lawyers interact sparked by the pandemic.

Meanwhile, fully-virtual and hybrid law firms have been scooping up lawyers from traditional Big Law firms in the past several months, touting flexibility and nontraditional economic and compensation structures due to low overhead and operating costs.

"You will see more attorneys gravitating towards these models," Christopher Wilson, a partner at Atlanta, Georgia-based Taylor English Duma, told Reuters after Husch launched The Link in July. Taylor English bills itself on its website as a "new breed of law firm," taking elements from virtual and traditional firms.

Miller had said in July that lawyers in The Link will be compensated in line with other lawyers at the firm. He said this week that the firm doesn't want them isolated in a "virtual bubble," and it plans to have in-person events with other Husch Blackwell attorneys after pandemic-related restrictions ease.

The firm is wrestling with how much experience a team member should have before being in the virtual environment, in part because of the interpersonal connections and networking opportunities that can help early career attorneys in professional development, Miller said.

Husch is "trying to find the right balance and be intentional about it," he said.