Ele Klein is co-chair of the M&A and Securities Group, co-chair of the Global Shareholder Activism Group and serves as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. He practices in the areas of shareholder activism, mergers and acquisitions, securities law and regulatory compliance. He represents activists, investment banks and companies in matters ranging from corporate governance and control to proxy contests and defensive strategies.

His recent representations have included representing Trian Fund Management in The Walt Disney Company; Engine No. 1 in Exxon Mobil; Politan Capital at Masimo Corporation and Centene Corp.; TCI in Canadian National; JANA Partners in Zendesk, New Relic and Mercury Systems; D.E. Shaw in FLEETCOR Technologies, Inc., Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., FedEx and Verisk Analytics; Corvex Management at Anaplan; Starboard Value in RB Global, Inc. (f/k/a/Ritchie Bros.), Papa John’s International and Acacia Research; Elliott Management in Marathon Petroleum, Akamai Technologies and Hess Corp.; Farallon Capital at Exelixis, Inc.; Irenic Capital Management at News Corp.; Greenlight Capital in General Motors; Cevian Capital in Autoliv, ABB and LM Ericsson; Caligan Partners in Knowles Corp. and AMAG Pharmaceuticals; venBio Select Advisor in Immunomedics; Saba Capital in First Trust; Oasis Capital in Stratus Properties; Altimeter Capital Management in United Continental Holding; SRS Investment Management in Avis Budget Group; and Anchorage in connection with board representation at Houghton Mifflin.

Ele works on numerous activist campaigns and related transactions every year for some of the largest private investment groups and investment banks in the United States and abroad. In addition, he advises on private investments in public equity (PIPEs), initial public offerings and secondary offerings, venture capital financing, and indenture defaults and interpretation, and he counsels clients in the regulatory areas of insider trading, short selling, Sections 13 and 16, Rule 144, insider trading and Regulation M/Rule 105.

Ele is recognized as a 2022 Dealmaker of the Year in The American Lawyer for his work at Exxon Mobil for Engine No. 1, the largest proxy fight in history, which resulted in the addition of three directors to the Exxon Mobil board of directors. He is also ranked as a leading lawyer in Chambers USA, The Legal 500 US, New York Super Lawyers – New York Metro Top 100 and Super Lawyers Business Edition. He has served as a moderator and speaker at numerous conferences and events addressing Shareholder Activism, regulatory and reporting issues, PIPEs, M&A deals, the capital markets and other topics of interest to the alternative investment industry.

He is a regular contributor to the Shareholder Activism Insight report and The Activist Investing Annual Review, produced annually by Activist Insight in association with SRZ. Ele received his J.D. from Yale Law School where he was senior editor on The Yale Law Journal.