J. Steven Collins is an experienced litigation attorney practicing in areas including employment law, domestic relations, and premises liability. For 30 years, he has used his professional acumen and experience to achieve the legal needs of his clients—getting them where they need to be when they need to be there. He has achieved an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and serves in an Of Counsel role in Spicer Rudstrom’s Knoxville office.

Steve’s practice has involved defending and representing parties in the grocery, financial, manufacturing, not-for-profit, and trucking industries, as well as providing counsel on government compliance, hiring agreements, and severance packages for employers. He has also handled numerous wills contests. Steve is a member of the firm’s Alternative Dispute Resolution, Insurance Law, Business and Corporate Law, Employment Law, Family and Domestic Law, Retail and Hospitality, Products Liability, Trucking and Transportation, and Wills and Probate Proceedings practice areas.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, Steve was awarded the Order of the Coif and the Chancellor’s Citation for Extraordinary Academic Achievement. Before joining Spicer Rudstrom, he was a founding member of Burroughs Collins and Newcomb in Knoxville. He has been a frequent lecturer to clients, the business community, and colleagues and has served as an adjunct professor on litigation practice skills, pre-trial procedure, and appellate practice for both Pellissippi State Technical Community College and the University of Tennessee College of Law.

Steve’s bachelor’s degree is in education and history, and for nearly five years after college, he was an educator and motivator for inner-city and delinquent youth. He taught history, economics, and English at Melrose and Southside High schools in Memphis and later taught a range of subjects, as well as guidance on recreation, athletics, and jobs, at Cooper House Child and Family Services in Knoxville. The advice of three important women in his life—his mother, aunt, and wife—led him to pursue higher academic studies and another vocation where he could live out his passion for helping others. Steve chose law school and graduated with his J.D. with the highest honors in 1986.

A Memphis native, Steve’s brush with fame took place at a very early age, when, as family lore is told, his babysitter crossed paths with a young Elvis Presley, who, wanting to spend time with her, pushed Steve’s baby carriage while on a walk. Traces of his Memphis heritage can be found in the meals he most enjoys cooking—Southern-style dinners of barbecue, pot roast, fresh garden vegetables, cornbread, and fried okra. Away from work, Steve’s favorite pastime is piling his family, friends, and dogs into his Pathfinder and heading for the mountaintops of southern Appalachia. He and his wife have four grown children and four smart and lovely granddaughters.