Proper way to use SyncLock (in general)

Question

This is a follow-up to a previous question regarding locking on two List(Of T) objects. The answer there was helpful but left me with another question.

Suppose I have a function like this:

Public Function ListWork() As Integer
  List1.Clear()
  ..Some other work which does not modify List1..
  List1.AddRange(SomeArray)
  ..Some more work that does not involve List1..
  Return List1.Count
End Function

which resides in a class that declares List1. In a multithreaded environment, I now understand that I should have a private locking object for List1 and lock List1 whenever it's modified or enumerated. My question is, should I do this:

Private List1Lock As New Object
Public Function ListWork() As Integer
  SyncLock List1Lock
    List1.Clear()
  End SyncLock
  ..Some other work which does not modify List1..
  SyncLock List1Lock
    List1.AddRange(SomeArray)
  End SyncLock
  ..Some more work that does not involve List1..
  SyncLock List1Lock
    Dim list1Count As Integer = List1.Count
  End SyncLock
  Return list1Count
End Function

or this:

Private List1Lock As New Object
Public Function ListWork() As Integer
  SyncLock List1Lock
    List1.Clear()
    ..Some other work which does not modify List1..
    List1.AddRange(SomeArray)
    ..Some more work that does not involve List1..
    Dim list1Count As Integer = List1.Count
  End SyncLock
  Return list1Count
End Function

I'm guessing that the former example is optimal?