Elwood F. Collins

I am a transactional lawyer and a problem solver, adept at using my broad knowledge and expertise to resolve complex situations and transactions. I have extensive experience in the areas of commercial real estate, mortgage finance, asset-based lending, structured finance and securitization. 

I began my career as a commercial real estate lawyer representing shopping center and office building developers and major tenants. Over time, my practice expanded into mortgage finance, asset-based lending, structured finance and securitization. I have represented landlords and tenants, borrowers and lenders, purchasers and sellers of real property and other types of assets, and issuers and underwriters. I represented the original XFL Football League in the negotiation of all its stadium agreements. In 1993, I handled the first ever securitization of real estate tax liens, and for more than two decades I acted as counsel to the underwriters in the New York City Tax Lien Securitization Program.

I spent more than 40 years in private practice with five major law firms, and was a partner at four of those firms. I was the managing partner of the New York office of an AmLaw 100 firm for more than a decade. Most recently, I served as General Counsel of a privately held holding company, whose principal subsidiary was a major originator and servicer of single-family mortgage loans. A significant portion of my time involved the sale of the holding company to a public mortgage REIT.

I've been a rabid rock music fan for decades. I currently host a weekly two hour music program called Trawling the Decades, on WCWP Radio, the public radio station of LIU/Post.