Bio

Co-chair of the M&A and Securities Group, co-chair of the Global Shareholder Activism Group and member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Advises on shareholder activism, mergers and acquisitions, securities law and regulatory compliance. Ele Klein represents activists, investment banks and companies in matters ranging from corporate governance and control to proxy contests and defensive strategies. He 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, Ele 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 American Lawyer “Dealmaker of the Year” 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 ExxonMobil 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. Ele 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 Schulte.