Jumpstart your legal career with Flexpert

Capital One’s award-winning legal rotational program, known as the “Flexpert program,” is an innovative introduction to a career as an in-house counsel. By rotating through several legal department practice groups, Flexperts develop new legal expertise, learn about our different lines of business, and develop a network of personal connections that will serve them well as they move into a “fixed” role in legal.

Embracing a general athlete approach

Most in-house legal departments hire attorneys with deep specialities in particular areas of law. At Capital One, we hire legal subject matter experts and believe in the “general athlete” model—that smart attorneys can learn new areas of law quickly. The Flexpert program draws attorneys from a variety of backgrounds, including law firms, in-house, government and military service. This program attracts both generalists and specialists who want to broaden their practice. We typically hire 1-2 classes of Flexperts per year, with each class including 3-4 associates. 

Learn through a variety of interesting rotations

Newly hired Flexperts—who are full-time associates—spend approximately 12–18 months rotating through different legal roles, roughly six months at a time. These roles can include litigation, transactional, business counsel and regulatory subject matter expert roles, among others. From the beginning, Flexperts get significant input into their rotation destinations. They get to review detailed descriptions of each potential rotational role and then rank their preferences before rotation decisions are made based on their input, business needs and their past rotations.

During those rotations, our associates learn new areas of law and of the business while working with different attorneys across the department. They also benefit from close mentoring by a Flexpert-specific manager and an on-rotation manager. Flexpert programming is designed to introduce associates to Capital One and to the in-house counsel role, including an annual “Flexpert Day”. Many describe the rotational experiences as “supercharging” their learning curve at Capital One—it’s an incredible way to learn how our enterprise works. Entering Capital One with a cohort of peers also helps Flexperts navigate a new environment together, while enjoying support and mentoring from more senior Flexperts and program alumni.

Find a “fixed” placement that fits your career goals

After several rotations, Flexperts find a “fixed” role within the Legal Department. There’s no one set way this happens. Often, an associate is in a rotation when an opportunity arises to stay in that rotation for the longer term. Sometimes, the Flexpert’s previous rotation opens a “fixed” role and the Flexpert returns to that role. Every time, these “fixed” placements happen with the buy-in of the Flexpert and the destination team, and with the careful guidance of the Flexpert program leadership to find the best long-term “fixed” opportunity.

One of the greatest aspects of the Flexperts program is that it helps associates experience a variety of placements before identifying where they want to be long-term. Flexperts know more about each legal team, and each team better understands the associate’s skills and experiences, resulting in better-fit placements for both associate and team.