If last year’s GC Compensation Survey showed the aftereffects—the hangover, if you will—of the deepest trough of the recession, this year’s results show that chief legal officers made steady gains and recovered some momentum. [ See full survey results here.]

Trends? Pretty much what you’d expect. Stock options continue to fall out of favor (even though some lucky in-house lawyers are still getting those fat options), and cash remains king. Instead of getting bonuses just for being there, chief legal officers are getting extra cash, or, in the latest parlance, nonequity incentive compensation, which is tied to corporate performance goals. These payments, which rose by double digits, make up an increasing part of a chief legal officer’s pay packet. And restricted shares remain the most popular way to reward high performers with equity. In all, the word is diversity, rather than any one type of compensation.

2011 GC Compensation Survey:
There was one surprise: our winner. The top prize goes to a woman for the first time since we started this survey, in 1994. Denise Keane, the top legal officer since 2007 at tobacco giant Altria Group, Inc., took home $6.5 million in total cash compensation. In fact, women in general are continuing to make steady inroads in the pantheon of top earners. “We are moving in the right direction, albeit slowly,” says Dorian Denburg, president of the National Association of Women Lawyers and a general attorney with AT&T Inc. “What we need are more sponsors and champions so that as opportunities open, women can fill these seats.”