Today's general counsel shoulder a great deal of responsibility for the legal well-being of some of the world's largest and most complex corporations. And if current trends hold, they will continue to become bigger players in corporate strategy and risk management in the coming years.

It's a select group, especially those who make it into the elite ranks of Law Journal affiliate Corporate Counsel's latest survey of the best-compensated GCs.

Brackett Denniston III, general counsel of General Electric Company who had been ranked as the top compensation earner for two years, has been usurped by Alan Braverman, the The Walt Disney Co.'s general counsel, who received $6,699,231 in total cash compensation, according to the 2015 General Counsel Compensation survey.