Episode 3-Using Affinity to Build Your Business Network

In this episode of Counsel to Counsel, Peter Resnick, Vice President of Charles River Associates, talks about ways that you can build your business network.  He discusses using affinity to deepen your relationships with clients, referral sources and other professionals.  At the end of these notes, I have linked to several additional resources that may be helpful to you (if you want to learn more about building your network.) Being a good lawyer and working hard are key ingredients to having a successful legal career.  I’ve spoken to many lawyers who take pride in having built a great reputation in their practice area.   But I’ve also observed that overall, lawyers in private practice who have their own clients are the happiest.  They generally earn more (at least relative to the other lawyers in their firm). More importantly, they have more control over their own destiny. Building a good reputation in your practice area is certainly an effective way to begin to build a practice.  As law firm associates get more senior, it is important for them to write, speak and generally demonstrate to the world that they are experts in their subject matter.  Marketing in this way provides a good foundation for building a practice.  But marketing and building a good reputation is not enough. Clients hire lawyers who they know, like and trust and if you want to be known, liked and trusted, you must build relationships with prospective clients and referral sources.  Even if you don’t see yourself in private practice down the road, business relationships can be instrumental in helping you find good in-house opportunities. My guest, Peter Resnick, is someone I’ve known for 20 years. Peter is a master at building business relationships and in this episode, he talks about ways that you can be more successful in building your own network.  Peter is Vice President at Charles River Associates where he leads high profile engagements in the areas of fraud investigation, business damages, and valuation. Peter heads CRA's national Forensic Accounting Solution and has extensive experience in corporate investigations, government-initiated investigations, forensic analysis, regulated matters, accounting, valuation, and fraud investigations. He has more than 20 years of experience working with highly regarded law firms throughout the country, large global companies as well as middle-market public and privately held entities.  While Peter is an accountant and not a lawyer, he is well known to the legal community.  He has built a great network of lawyers who are his clients and his referral sources.  And he has built a multi-million dollar practice.   Most importantly, Peter understands how to really connect with other people.  He is a strong role model for any professional service provider.  He has an ability to make everyone feel welcome which is worth emulating. Additional Resources The following are articles and blog posts which are related to this podcast: To Build Your Legal Career, Marketing is Necessary; But Insufficient Connecting With Your Tribe-this blog post inspired this podcast episode Overcoming Fear of Networking 47 Inexpensive Ways to Build Business Relationships and Generate Legal Work Talking Politics and Religion at Your Job Interviews