Biography: Private funds

Stephen Culhane, a partner in Linklaters' investment management group, focuses primarily on representing sponsors of private-equity funds, real-estate funds, special situation and distressed investment funds, hedge funds and funds of funds with respect to the structuring, formation and operation of such fund products. Recent matters include leveraged buyout funds, special situations hybrid private-equity/hedge-fund projects, real estate opportunity funds, and co-investment funds organised on behalf of global financial institutions as well as leading private fund managers. He also advises select institutional clients with their investments in private funds and complex secondary transactions involving portfolios of fund and/or direct investments. In addition to his listing in The International Who's Who of Private Funds Lawyers, Stephen has been recognised as one of the leading private equity fund attorneys by Chambers USA, Legal 500, The Expert Guide to the World's Leading Private Equity Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America.

Prior to joining Linklaters in 2006, Culhane led the New York funds practice at King & Spalding. Prior to that, he spent seven years in Goldman Sachs' legal department. At Goldman, he served as the legal director to the firm's private equity group, one of the world's largest private-equity fund of funds complexes, and served as the senior attorney covering Goldman Sachs Asset Management's direct hedge funds. Culhane has specialised in private-investment funds since the early 1990s and is a frequent speaker on issues relating to private investment funds. He is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York private funds committee and the private funds sub-committee of the International Bar Association. Culhane graduated cum laude from Princeton University, received an MPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford, and his JD from the New York University School of Law.