General Electric Company didn’t mince words in its most recent proxy statement. Summing up general counsel Brackett Denniston III’s performance, it says: “Mr. Denniston had a strong year in 2012.”

It must have been a very strong year indeed. In fact, Denniston, GC of the Fairfield, Connecticut–based company since 2004, took home $10.9 million in total cash compensation in 2012. After a three-year absence from Corporate Counsel’s GC Compensation Survey, Denniston returned in style — finishing ahead of the year’s other 99 highest-paid legal chiefs.

He’s not alone. There can be just one winner, but there was plenty of good news to go around. After across-the-board declines the previous year, compensation bounced back up in 2012 in every category of GC pay that we measure. Average total cash received rose 6.7 percent to $1,853,671, which is the highest figure we’ve seen to date. (Note: highest since 2000, anyway.)

WHAT’S THE EXPLANATION?

Aaron Boyd, head of research at executive compensation analysts Equilar Inc. in San Francisco, says, “A lot of it has to do with the fact that the economy continues to chug along and to perform better and better — at least as far as the stock prices are concerned.” The stock market posted double-digit gains in 2012, and in a more stable environment, he says, executives were able to hit their targets. So long as their companies were thriving — and many were — it was a good year to be a GC in America.

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Tags: Brackett Denniston III, GC, GC Compensation Survey