To show how much the compact legal department at Discover Financial Services can do, general counsel Kelly McNamara Corley tells a story. It was 2007, and the credit card issuer had just been spun off as an independent company. Her two-person government affairs staff in Washington, D.C., needed to move into new quarters. So Corley’s very first hire at Discover, assistant general counsel Ray Messina, his administrative assistant, and a friend rented a truck and moved everything for about $200. “In a small law department, you look for people who can flourish putting on and taking off hats in any given day,” Corley says.
The legal department at Discover—the country’s sixth-largest credit card company, headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Riverwoods—has only 34 lawyers. How do they do it? Corley, who’s been GC at Discover and its predecessor business unit since 1999, says it’s a combination of being creative about problem-solving and leveraging people into new roles. “If you only have limited resources, you quickly recognize that you have to do it faster, smarter, and better than somebody that has five times the resources,” she explains. “You get very clever with your time.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
