Law firms are often described as professional services businesses, knowledge businesses, or relationship businesses. All of that is true. But at their core, law firms are 100% people businesses.
Every outcome partners care about be that the client experience, quality of work, risk management, profitability, reputation, succession, these all flow through people. The results you will achieve in any of these domains depend on how motivated, focused, engaged, and well those people are. There is no separating firm performance from human performance.
And yet, many partners find themselves spending far less time than they would like on activities that are truly the highest and best use of their time, such as leading and mentoring their teams, cultivating client relationships, and doing the legal work that is the most satisfying to them and creates the most value. Instead, they are pulled into avoidable people issues, compensating for disengagement, or staying far too close to work and administrative matters that should not require their ongoing attention.
This is not a character flaw, and it is not a leadership failure. It is a systems problem.
If partners want to reclaim their time, energy, and enjoyment of practice, they need a motivated and engaged legal team. Engagement is not a “nice to have.” It is a prerequisite for leverage. And that requires a cultural operating system that reflects how human beings, including lawyers, are actually wired.
That operating system is RECLAIM.
RECLAIM: a practical model for motivation and engagement in law firms
The RECLAIM model draws on research from the fields of neuroscience and psychology to describe seven factors that consistently shape human motivation at work. These factors map to core domains of social experience that the brain is constantly evaluating as either rewarding or threatening with direct consequences for focus, collaboration, learning, and wellbeing in law firm life.
The RECLAIM model sits in a clear lineage of applied research on human motivation and flourishing at work. It builds on David Rock’s SCARF® model, developed through the NeuroLeadership Institute, which identifies five core social domains that the brain continuously evaluates as either rewarding or threatening. It also draws on Dr. Martin Seligman’s PERMA model of flourishing, which describes the conditions that support sustained wellbeing and optimal functioning.
RECLAIM translates and integrates these well-established frameworks into a form that is directly usable in law firm life — reflecting both the social realities of professional workplaces and the specific drivers of motivation, performance, and meaning in legal practice.
Importantly, RECLAIM is not about perks, personality, or generational preferences. Each element reflects conditions that leaders actively create or undermine through everyday decisions, structures, and behaviours.
R — Respect: mutual respect and recognition
Feeling respected means being listened to, taken seriously, and having contributions meaningfully acknowledged. It also includes access to opportunities to grow.
In practice, respect is undermined when input is dismissed, decisions are routinely overridden without explanation, or lawyers and staff feel invisible unless something has gone wrong. Respect is reinforced when leaders listen before advising, explain their thinking, acknowledge accomplishments in addition to areas for improvement, and treat legal team members as valued professionals.
E — Equity: fair treatment
Human beings are constantly scanning for what is fair and just. Law firms are no exception.
Equity in the RECLAIM model is about perceptions of what is fair and what is unjust. It shows up in how work is allocated, how policies are applied, how people are rewarded, how decisions are made, and how transparently those decisions are communicated. Even difficult or disappointing outcomes are easier to accept when people understand the rationale behind them. Perceived unfairness, by contrast, is a powerful demotivator and a reliable source of disengagement.
C — Clarity: clarity and predictability
Clarity is not just kind — it is a business strategy.
Knowing what is expected, the direction the firm is headed in, how decisions are made, and what the path forward looks like reduces cognitive load and stress. Confusion around expectations, performance standards, processes, or advancement is not neutral; it actively drains motivation and focus. Even in uncertain times, firms can create pockets of certainty through clear communication and consistent practices.
L — Learning: growth and development
Lawyers are deeply motivated by mastery. The drive to learn, improve skills, and tackle complex challenges is intrinsic to the profession.
Learning is supported when lawyers can see how their current work contributes to longer-term development, and when growth is treated as a shared priority rather than an individual hobby pursued off the side of a full workload. When development stalls, motivation often stalls with it.
A — Autonomy: control and ownership
Autonomy is about having meaningful control over one’s work and being trusted to take ownership.
When lawyers are supported to take responsibility for files or projects, with appropriate guidance, boundaries and support, autonomy and connection are both activated. Micromanagement, on the other hand, reliably undermines motivation, signals mistrust, and keeps partners trapped in work they should not need to be doing.
I — Inclusion: connection and belonging
Inclusion is about feeling part of the team and connected to leaders and colleagues. It is about creating an environment that supports exploring ideas, collaboration, asking questions, and learning from errors.
It shows up in who is looped into conversations, whose voices are heard, and whether people feel supported rather than isolated. Exclusion does not have to be intentional to be damaging; feeling left out of decisions or disconnected from leadership quickly erodes engagement and loyalty.
M — Meaning: purpose and impact
Meaning comes from understanding the “why” behind the work and seeing how one’s efforts create positive impact.
For lawyers, this may be helping clients through difficult moments, advancing justice, protecting rights, or solving problems that matter. When meaning is visible, work feels worthwhile even when it is demanding. When it is obscured, motivation drops — even among highly capable and committed lawyers.
Why this matters for partners
Our brains are constantly evaluating the work environment. When RECLAIM cues activate the brain’s reward circuits, engagement, creativity, and learning are supported. When those same cues register as threats, stress increases, rumination rises, and motivation drains away.
For partners, the implications are direct and practical.
When RECLAIM conditions are strong:
- lawyers and staff take ownership appropriately,
- problems are surfaced earlier,
- quality improves,
- and partners can spend more time on the responsibilities and work that truly require their experience and judgment.
When RECLAIM conditions are weak:
- partners become bottlenecks,
- people problems multiply,
- and the practice becomes heavier and less satisfying to run.
What comes next
This article provides a high-level introduction to the RECLAIM operating system and there is much more depth to explore.
I first presented the RECLAIM model at the TLABC Women Lawyers Retreat 2025, where the response from participants made it clear that this framework was resonating with real, lived experience in firms. Based on that response, I have since recorded a version of the presentation and created a resource kit for law firm partners who want to explore the model more deeply. It can be accessed here: https://www.thelawyercoach.com/the-flourishing-law-centre/
Over the coming months, I will be dedicating a separate SLAW article to each element of RECLAIM, with a focus on how partners can apply these principles practically inside real firms, not as abstract ideals, but as levers for improving performance, engagement, and sustainability.
If law firms are serious about being well-run people businesses, then motivation and engagement cannot be left to chance. RECLAIM offers a practical cultural operating system for getting there.
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