Peter Lattman of The Wall Street Journal profiles Boston lawyer Michael Elefante, who represents the Bancroft family, which controls 64 percent of the voting stock of Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal. Elefante has been the voice of a majority of the family in turning down the $5 billion offer from News Corp. to acquire Dow Jones.
Lattman wrote, “Described by colleagues as dignified and reserved, Mr. Elefante is the Bancroft family’s most powerful representative. He serves as trustee for a large Bancroft family trust and has served as a Dow Jones board member since 2005. He succeeded Roy Hammer, also a lawyer at Hemenway & Barnes, who retired from the Dow Jones board after serving as a director since 1998.
“The Bancrofts, a disparate group spread out across the country, aren’t all represented by Hemenway & Barnes. Lynn Hendrix, a partner at law firm Holme Roberts & Owen LLP in Denver, serves as trustee for at least one of the Bancroft family trusts, according to a Dow Jones filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Mr. Elefante joined Hemenway & Barnes in 1970 and became a partner in 1976. He served as managing partner of the firm from 1993 to 1999. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1965 and Harvard Law School in 1969, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.”
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