(Reuters) - After learning how to work remotely this year, traditional law firms are still deciding what their policies and office plans will be for 2021. A growing number of Big Law veterans aren't waiting to find out.

Lawyers have been jumping from brick-and-mortar firms to virtual and hybrid law firms as the pandemic forced offices to shutter. For alternative firms, that's brought a growth spurt in 2020, and a potential turning point for their ability to lure top talent with promises of greater flexibility on pricing and location.

"Coronavirus certainly accelerated the firm's growth, there's no denying that," said Michael Pierson, managing partner of FisherBroyles' global corporate practice. "Once every major law firm was forced into remote working, it largely demystified what it meant to practice law in a remote environment."

FisherBroyles, which bills itself as "the first and largest distributed law firm in the world," has added 51 lawyers in 2020. That's compared to 28 new attorneys in 2019, the firm said. Most of the hires have been across the U.S., with a handful in the U.K. after the firm expanded to London earlier this year. They include partners from major law firms such as Alston & Bird, Winston & Strawn, Dorsey & Whitney and Duane Morris.

With everyone living through "this forced experiment" of working mainly from home, "it's gotten easier to attract excellent lawyers," to her firm, said Marlene Laro, a partner and chief operating officer of Potomac Law Group. Potomac Law has added 24 lawyers this year – generally finding talent through word of mouth – compared to 15 lawyers added in 2019.

Rimon Law and Taylor English Duma are two other distributed or hybrid law firms that boosted hiring thanks to the pandemic, according to leaders at the firms. Rimon increased its partner ranks with 35 additions in 2020, including from big firms like Dentons, White & Case and Polsinelli, more than double the 15 partners the firm hired in 2019. And Taylor English added at least 17 attorneys this year compared to about 10 last year, from firms such as Akerman and Fox Rothschild.

Culhane Meadows added nine attorneys this year compared to 10 last year. The numbers align with the firm's historic growth per year, said Grant Walsh, a co-founder and managing partner of the firm. He expects that trend to continue going forward, but with a larger pool of candidates interested in a cloud-based firm.

Scale, a new firm that officially debuted this fall, also had success in building out its ranks in 2020. Adam Forest, the firm's managing partner, said Scale added 37 attorneys this year. The firm started out the year with 10 attorneys on its platform, Forest said.

Whatever their hiring levels, the firms' leaders said they've seen a surge in interest since March. Although their business models vary, each generally promotes a more flexible environment than their brick-and-mortar counterparts, with lower overhead and operating costs that can increase take-home pay.

"People are taking a hard look at the economics and deciding whether it really makes sense for their practices to be paying such a substantial amount into the overhead," Laro said.

Some traditional firms are beginning to adopt elements of a hybrid model. Husch Blackwell this year launched a "virtual office" to serve as a hub for attorneys who won't be tied to its brick and mortar offices. John Quinn of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan recently told The American Lawyer that the firm is open to hiring partners outside of its physical footprint.

Other firm leaders and real estate brokers have said firms are reconsidering their square footage requirements. Some, such as Norton Rose Fulbright, have already decided that lawyers in some jurisdictions can remain remote part-time after this year.

Still, many other firms "will revert to form and expect their people to be in the office most of the time post-COVID," said Zeughauser Group consultant Kent Zimmermann. While many firms were moving toward greater flexibility even before the pandemic, others are committed to a culture of working together in person, he said in an email.

Zimmermann said that firms are "generally happy to be more flexible on remote working for significant contributors," as the firms want to accommodate them. But for non-rainmakers looking to stay remote, they "may consider going to another firm that is more flexible about remote working or they may go to a virtual firm," he said.