Education
JD, Fordham University School of Law
B.S. Accounting, St. Peter’s College
Bar Admissions
United States Supreme Court
United States Tax Court
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
New Jersey State Bar
After graduating from law school, Mr. Collins entered the military service, serving as the Financial and Legal Liaison Officer for the Commanding General, United States Army Special Forces at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. After his military service, he entered the private practice of law in New Jersey where his practice has been devoted primarily to the areas of banking, corporate, real estate and land use.
Mr. Collins has represented clients in the purchase, sale, leasing, financing and development of commercial, industrial and residential properties. He has assisted a county government in acquiring a substantial tract of property to continue a greenway along a river corridor.
Mr. Collins has also represented both lending institutions and borrowers in loan workout transactions and contested and uncontested foreclosure matters for residential, construction and commercial loans. He has also represented both borrowers and lending institutions relating to multi-million dollar real estate projects involving commercial, industrial, and residential properties. He has participated in mediation and other alternative dispute resolution proceedings and has advised lending institutions regarding federal and state compliance and regulatory issues.
As part of a team of attorneys, environmental professionals and other professionals, Mr. Collins assisted in the remediation of a closed NASA facility in California which was transferred to a municipality under the early transfer provisions of CERCLA and returned to the private market for redevelopment through the use of environmental liability assumption agreements. The project was granted the Phoenix Award for EPA Region 9.
Mr. Collins has represented clients ranging from sole proprietorships to Fortune 500 companies in various aspects of their legal needs and has significant experience in advising and planning as well as negotiating and drafting legal documentation including formation and governance documents for various types of business entities, purchase and sale agreements (both asset and stock), stock option and incentive agreements, employment and consultant agreements, shareholders’ agreements, environmental liability assumption agreements and remediation contracts. In addition to the practice of law, Mr. Collins also served as an Assistant Professor of Business Law at St. Peter’s College.