Brackett Denniston, who for more than 10 years served as in-house legal chief at General Electric, has come out of retirement to take up a new role at Goodwin Procter.

Denniston, who began his legal career as a summer associate at Goodwin in 1972, is returning to the US firm's Boston office as senior counsel.

In October 2015, Denniston announced that he would retire from GE after 11 years as head of the company's massive in-house legal department. He first joined GE in 1996, serving as vice-president and senior counsel of litigation and legal policy from the industrial conglomerate's former headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut.

In 2004, he was promoted to general counsel (GC) and senior vice-president.

While at GE, Denniston changed the landscape for in-house legal departments, cutting down on the number of outside firms hired by the company and concentrating on creating more streamlined processes, eliminating redundancies and stressing speed from in-house lawyers. As a result, GE made close to $250bn in divestitures under Denniston's tenure, including a $14bn acquisition in 2014 of power grid assets from French conglomerate Alstom.

In 2013 and 2014, Denniston was the highest paid GC in Corporate Counsel's annual rankings of public companies. Last year, Denniston finished second with more than $6m in total take-home pay.

Since leaving GE, Denniston has travelled and spent time with his family while taking time to determine his next steps after retirement.

"Gradually, over the last few months, I've made some decisions, but certainly not all the decisions, and Goodwin was one of those decisions," said Denniston.

Denniston began his corporate legal career as a summer clerk at Goodwin in 1972 and then was hired as an associate at the firm in 1974. In 1982, Denniston left to serve as chief of the major frauds unit at the US Attorney's office in Boston, but later returned to the firm as a litigation partner in 1986.

Denniston's familiarity with the firm's culture and friendships with many people that worked there were the main reasons why, less than a year after choosing retirement, he decided to start over again where he began.

"It's like going back to school after summer vacation," Denniston said.

In June, Goodwin made a series of changes that the firm's chairman, David Hashmall, told The Am Law Daily signaled part of its transition from a Boston institution to a global player. The firm rebranded with a fresh logo and a redesigned website and opened a new home office along South Boston's waterfront Seaport District. (Hashmall took over as Goodwin Procter's top leader in 2014 from Regina Pisa, the first woman to ever lead an Am Law 100 firm.)

GE, Denniston's former home, also recently began the process of relocating its headquarters to Boston from Connecticut. Last year, the company hired former Kirkland & Ellis partner Alexander Dimitrief, a long-time deputy to Denniston, as its new in-house legal chief.

In his new role, Denniston said he will use his experience and aptitude to work on issues helpful to Goodwin's goals, from "good lawyering" to "good advising", while also pursing his other post-retirement plans such as teaching, writing and pro bono work.