Lawdragon has included five Haynes Boone partners from five offices in the 2025 edition of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Corporate Employment Lawyers guide: Jesse Gelsomini, Jason Habinsky, Chris Kang, Laura O’Donnell and Susan Wetzel.
In compiling the 18th edition of the directory, Lawdragon vetted thousands of candidates, choosing lawyers who have had a significant impact representing employers with their most pressing issues. A lawyer must have been in practice at least 10 years to make the guide.
The following Haynes Boone lawyers were included in the directory:
Jesse Gelsomini (Executive Compensation & Benefits): Gelsomini helps clients in all industries efficiently resolve matters related to employee benefits, ERISA and executive compensation. He brings over three decades of focused legal experience to his work designing, drafting, implementing and administering tax-qualified pension, 401(k), profit sharing, ESOP and stock bonus plans.
Jason Habinsky (Labor & Employment): Habinsky utilizes an approach guided by years of experience to help develop creative strategies aimed at resolving his clients’ potentially volatile employment law matters before they escalate. He recognizes that understanding his clients’ businesses is the key to helping them navigate the complexities of workplace issues in the most effective, yet efficient manner.
Chris Kang (Executive Compensation & Benefits): Kang, co-chair of the firm's Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Group, serves as a trusted adviser to numerous companies, financial institutions, private investment fund sponsors and tax-exempt entities with respect to complex matters involving employee benefits, ERISA and executive compensation.
Laura O’Donnell (Labor & Employment, Litigation): O’Donnell is co-chair of the firm's Litigation Practice Group and heads the firm’s Wage and Hour Litigation group. She is board-certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and her practice includes employment litigation, client counseling, executive investigations, executive agreements, nationwide employment law compliance projects, and employment aspects of M&A and other corporate transactions.
Susan Wetzel (Executive Compensation & Benefits): Wetzel is the chair of the firm's Business Transactions Department and co-chair of the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Group. She counsels employers, executives and members of corporate boards regarding design, implementation and compliance issues relating to retirement plans, welfare plans, employee benefits, executive compensation, and mergers and acquisitions.
The firm’s Labor and Employment practice group is equally adept in the boardroom and the courtroom, with a full-service team of employment lawyers across the country handling complex, high-stakes labor and employment matters. Clients routinely turn to Haynes Boone to counsel and train their executives and managers on significant labor and employment issues, and they appreciate our litigators’ ability to achieve successful results.
The Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice group constructs and administers plans that take full advantage of the relevant operational, financial and tax benefits. In a heavily regulated area in which rules are constantly evolving, navigating the laws necessary to properly design programs can be a real challenge. The group provides practical, useful counsel that considers clients’ overall business strategies.
