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On the heels of a year that saw decreases across several key compensation metrics for Pennsylvania general counsel, 2018 made up that lost ground and then some.

In 2017, total cash compensation—salary, bonus and nonequity incentive plan compensation— among Pennsylvania legal department leaders dropped by 8.5% to an average of $748,881 from $818,444 in 2016. But in 2018, that number jumped by 17.8% to $882,378.

Average salary also grew, by 7.6%, from $415,056 in 2017 to $446,452 in 2018, and average bonus and nonequity compensation were both up significantly as well. In 2017, the average bonus dropped roughly 71% to about $42,000 from $145,808 in 2016 and nonequity compensation dropped 27%, from $401,135 to $291,769. In 2018, however, the average bonus grew more than six-fold to $275,542 and nonequity compensation ballooned by 40.6% to $400,344.

The huge bonus jump was largely attributable to two legal department leaders—Duane Holloway of United States Steel Corp. in Pittsburgh, who received a $250,000 bonus, and Edward Hoffman of Radian Group in Philadelphia, who received a $785,000 bonus.

Total compensation—total cash plus stock and option awards, change in pension value and other forms of compensation—also increased in 2018 after decreasing the previous year. For the 27 general counsel ranked in 2017, the average total compensation came in at just over $1 million, down from $3.1 million. In 2018, that figure was up to $1.8 million among 29 GCs ranked this year.

As always, it must be noted that chief legal officers of public companies report their annual compensation only if they are among the five highest paid executives in their company in a given year, meaning rankings can change substantially year to year, with high-ranked GCs falling off the list by virtue of not having to report that year.

The Top 10

This year's top 10 highest-paid GCs in Pennsylvania (ranked by total cash) included a number of familiar names from last year's list, albeit with some slight shuffling toward the top of the list. The midsection of the top 10, however, saw a few newcomers.

Radian's Hoffman, who was ranked No. 4 last year with 2017 total cash compensation of $1,060,625, came in first place on this year's list with a 2018 total cash take-home of $1,523,375.

Top-10 stalwart John Chou, executive vice president and chief legal & business officer of AmerisourceBergen, who came in at No. 3 on last year's list with total cash compensation of $1,089,898, ranked second this year with $1,387,679.

Michael Tarvin, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Select Medical Holdings, has landed high among the top 10 in years past but was not ranked on last year's list. This year, however, he came in at No. 3 with total cash compensation of $1,352,000.

Meanwhile, Carl Sottosanti, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Penn National Gaming, was a newcomer to the top 10 last year and ranked No. 5 with total 2017 cash compensation of $1,053,107. This year, he moved up a spot to No. 4 with a total cash take-home of $1,296,343.

U.S. Steel's Holloway, who took over as general counsel of the company from rankings mainstay Suzanne Rich Folsom in 2018, made his first appearance on the list this year at No. 5, with total cash compensation of $1,189,182.

Joanne H. Raphael, making her first appearance on the list since being named senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of PPL Corporation in 2015, ranked No. 6 with total cash compensation of $1,174,055.

Sean Major, who took over as executive vice president and general counsel of Air Products and Chemicals in mid-2017 and thus has not appeared on the list before, came in at No. 7, with $1,073,875 in total cash.

The No. 8 spot belonged to Andrea Utecht, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of FMC Corp. Utecht has spent several years in the top 10, including grabbing the No. 1 slot last year, with 2017 total cash compensation of $1,451,967. This year, her total cash take-home was $1,064,488.

At No. 9 was another newcomer to the top 10, David L Deninno, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Wabtec Corporation, with total cash compensation of $975,000 in 2018.

And rounding out the list at No. 10, presumably for the last time, was Stephen Reynolds, who was executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Aramark Holdings Corp. up until April of this year, when he retired from the company and subsequently rejoined Newark-based law firm GIbbons, where he previously spent 16 years as a commercial and corporate litigator from 1985 to 2001. In his last full year at Aramark, Reynolds took home total cash compensation in the amount of  $964,476. For 2017, Reynolds had ranked second, with total cash compensation of $1,092,753.