Networking is a crucial part of career advancement. Talent can get you far, but combine skill with connections and you're much more likely to move up the ladder.

According to Susan Sneider, former general counsel of Turtle Wax Inc. and founder of legal consultancy New Vistas Consulting, networking is essential to in-house counsel for a number of reasons including creating opportunities in their current jobs, developing higher professional visibility, solidifying relationships with their internal clients and, in some cases, moving to other jobs. In her recently published book “A Lawyer's Guide to Networking,” Sneider instructs lawyers at all stages of professional life to develop practical techniques to improve networking skills.

“Many people have totally wrong impressions about networking,” she says. “They think it's a system of pandering and glad-handling, both activities that are truly incompatible with networking.”

Instead, Sneider suggests that networking is about developing and deepening relationships with others. Rather than approaching it with a self-interested mindset, she suggests thinking about others and how you can help them.

“[Networking] requires giving before getting,” Sneider says. “It also means making the time commitment to become meaningfully involved with other people. It's not speed-dating.”

Sneider's book, which is published by the ABA's Young Lawyers Division and the ABA-CLE Career Resource Center, uses real-world advice from top corporate professionals including Cornell Boggs, chief legal officer and vice president for public affairs at Coors Brewing Co.; Carolyn Clift, vice president, general counsel and assistant secretary at Health Care Services; and former Stephen Ball, former managing director and international general counsel at Kroll Inc.

The book is rife with hands-on exercises to help counsel reconnect with old contacts, create new contacts and foster these relationships to their full networking potential. If there is one unifying theme to Sneider's advice it is that networking is not about filling one's Rolodex with names and numbers; it's about keeping the interests of others in mind while creating meaningful relationships.

“The best way to become a better networker is to ask questions of everyone,” she says. “Listen to the answers, and then think at each turn, 'How can I help that person?' When you support others without ulterior motives, wonderful opportunities become available to you.”

The book, which retails for $29.95, can be purchased through the ABA's Web site at www.abanet.org.

Networking is a crucial part of career advancement. Talent can get you far, but combine skill with connections and you're much more likely to move up the ladder.

According to Susan Sneider, former general counsel of Turtle Wax Inc. and founder of legal consultancy New Vistas Consulting, networking is essential to in-house counsel for a number of reasons including creating opportunities in their current jobs, developing higher professional visibility, solidifying relationships with their internal clients and, in some cases, moving to other jobs. In her recently published book “A Lawyer's Guide to Networking,” Sneider instructs lawyers at all stages of professional life to develop practical techniques to improve networking skills.

“Many people have totally wrong impressions about networking,” she says. “They think it's a system of pandering and glad-handling, both activities that are truly incompatible with networking.”

Instead, Sneider suggests that networking is about developing and deepening relationships with others. Rather than approaching it with a self-interested mindset, she suggests thinking about others and how you can help them.

“[Networking] requires giving before getting,” Sneider says. “It also means making the time commitment to become meaningfully involved with other people. It's not speed-dating.”

Sneider's book, which is published by the ABA's Young Lawyers Division and the ABA-CLE Career Resource Center, uses real-world advice from top corporate professionals including Cornell Boggs, chief legal officer and vice president for public affairs at Coors Brewing Co.; Carolyn Clift, vice president, general counsel and assistant secretary at Health Care Services; and former Stephen Ball, former managing director and international general counsel at Kroll Inc.

The book is rife with hands-on exercises to help counsel reconnect with old contacts, create new contacts and foster these relationships to their full networking potential. If there is one unifying theme to Sneider's advice it is that networking is not about filling one's Rolodex with names and numbers; it's about keeping the interests of others in mind while creating meaningful relationships.

“The best way to become a better networker is to ask questions of everyone,” she says. “Listen to the answers, and then think at each turn, 'How can I help that person?' When you support others without ulterior motives, wonderful opportunities become available to you.”

The book, which retails for $29.95, can be purchased through the ABA's Web site at www.abanet.org.