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.