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About Rick Collins
Rick Collins, Esq., is the popular counsel to the health, fitness and dietary supplement communities. He has been awarded the highest accolades for legal abilities and ethical standards (AV-rating) from the prestigious Martindale-Hubbell directory of lawyers, and he is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. A partner in the law firm of Collins, McDonald & Gann, PC, he was formerly a criminal prosecutor, personal trainer, and competitive bodybuilder.
Rick is the official legal advisor to the International Federation of BodyBuilders (the IFBB, formed in 1946, currently has 173 affiliated National Federations and is recognized by over 90 National Olympic Committees). He is also General Counsel to the International Society of Sports Nutrition. As a leading advocate for the health and fitness community, he is a strong believer in preserving the rights of adult Americans to safe dietary supplements. He has served as General Counsel to a not-for-profit coalition of industry companies, scientists and consumers.
Rick is also the nation's foremost legal authority on performance enhancing substances. He has been consulted regarding more steroid legal matters than any other lawyer, and has personally handled cases from New York to California and at the borders of Canada and Mexico. He is admitted to practice in the State courts of New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Texas, and in the District of Columbia. In the late 1990s, he created the informational resource SteroidLaw.com in order to help bridge the gap between the muscle world and the justice community. He is the author of the definitive treatise on anabolic steroids and the law: LEGAL MUSCLE: Anabolics in America.
Rick has been interviewed as a legal authority on performance enhancing drugs on national television talk and news shows, in talk radio interviews and by countless online and print publications, including USA Today, ESPN.com, The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Village Voice, the Salt Lake Tribune, Newsday and Reason magazine. His practice and accomplished career have been profiled in periodicals as diverse as the prestigious New York Law Journal and the popular MuscleMag International. He has written extensively on the topic of illicit steroid use for legal publications including the Criminal Justice Journal of the New York State Bar Association and The Champion, the publication of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He frequently writes for various fitness and bodybuilding publications, and is a monthly columnist for the nationally circulated Muscular Development magazine and a member of their Advisory Board.
Bodybuilders, Olympic and professional athletes, sports coaches and trainers, criminal lawyers, physicians, pharmacists, military servicemen, and even police officers from across America have paid for the opportunity to access his encyclopedic knowledge. Rick also handles a variety of �alternative� drug cases with connections to fitness or bodybuilding. For example, Rick once obtained a decision declaring the federal Analogue Statute unconstitutionally void for vagueness as applied to a substance sold as a cleaning solution but alleged by the government to be an analogue of GHB.
To learn more about Rick's law fiirm, visit www.cmgesq.com. To get a message to Rick, send an email to his office at info@cmgesq.com or call his staff at 516-294-0300 during business hours, eastern time. |  | |
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News Headlines
11.17.06 - Testosterone Therapy May be Safe for Prostate
Millions of prescriptions for testosterone have been written these past few years (over 1.8 million in 2002 alone, according to industry estimates), but critics of testosterone replacement therapy have long pointed to an alleged risk of prostate cancer. That concern is unsupported by a small new study which is garnering mainstream media attention. more...
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08.08.06 - Rick Collins and Successful BALCO Defense
Patrick Arnold, the brilliant chemist and supplement guru at the root of the BALCO case, was sentenced to three months in a minimum security facility for his role in creating and distributing undetectable steroidal substances. In his sentencing memo on behalf of his client, Rick Collins wrote: "In assessing the various key players in the BALCO case, Mr. Arnold stands out as an anomaly. He was drawn into the conspiracy for reasons not driven by greed, promise of reward or even by misplaced loyalty or friendship, but by an intense -- albeit ultimately misguided -- scientific passion." Read the news story here and check out the court steps photo.
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05.23.06 - "PUMPED" Steroid Seminar in Manhattan
This seminar, courtesy of DrugPolicy.org, was recorded recently (May 10, 2006) in New York City featuring acclaimed steroid expert Rick Collins. You can listen to a recording of the talk online, as well as view his PowerPoint presentation, some background information, and additional resources.
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11.08.05 - Boston Sports Doping Symposium
In November 2005, Mr. Collins appeared as an invited speaker and panelist at “From Grand Slams to Grand Juries: Performance Enhancing Drug Use in Sports,” New England Law Review Symposium 2005, Boston, Mass. (Click Here for more).
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10.01.05 - Mr. Collins Goes to Washington ... and Texas
Rick Collins has now been licensed to practice law in the courts of the District of Columbia and the courts of the State of Texas. He has been licensed to practice law in the State of New York since 1985, and is also licensed in the States of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
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08.06.05 - Rick Collins, Esq. and John Crisler, D.O. on Baseball Prospectus Radio with Will Carroll
"August 6: BP Radio talks about 'the' story in baseball[:] ... steroids and Rafael Palmeiro. Will [Carroll] and Brad talk with Rick Collins, the leading mind in steroid law and Dr. John Crisler, a doctor specializing in steroid medicine. It's BP Radio covering the biggest story as only they can. BP Radio - testing positive for the truth. Rick Collins (0:45 past), the top steroid lawyer, will talk about Palmeiro's legal problems, possible defenses, and the attack on steroids from Congress." [Click on this link to hear the interview] more...
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06.21.05 - New Orleans Lecture on Supplements
Rick Collins lectured at the 2nd Annual International Society of Sports Nutrition Conference in New Orleans this past weekend. The presentation, "Ephedra, Prohormones ... What's Next?", focused on the latest regulatory and legislative initiatives affecting the dietary supplement market.
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06.01.05 - Steroid Prosecution Articles
Several steroid-related articles by Eric Dexheimer in the Denver Westword feature Mr. Collins and his practice. One article is entitled "Flexing His Muscle: The Air Force Academy discovered that prosecuting accused steroid-abusers is as tricky as attorney Rick Collins says," while another entitled "What's the Beef?" states: "If you've been busted for steroid possession -- and you're smart -- you call the Long Island offices of Rick Collins."
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05.05.05 - SteroidLaw.com Expands!
Since the late 1990s, the site at www.steroidlaw.com has been the most reliable Internet source of information on anabolic steroids and the law. The site has now been expanded to include more content, including news on steroids and supplements and an ever-growing list of articles.
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04.15.05 - Collins Testifies in Washington Before USSC
On April 12, 2005, Rick Collins testified before the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The USSC had sought comments on whether federal anabolic steroid offenses should be treated with stiffer punishments, such as by changing the way steroid quantities are calculated. Rick submitted written testimony, available online at the USSC website here. He also offered more extensive oral testimony on a variety of additional points, including the fact that many of the products now classified as "anabolic steroids" were sold to health-conscious consumers nationwide as dietary supplements just months ago. As a result of the testimony, the Commission voted not to increase steroid penalties at this time, instead requesting more time to study the complexities of the issue. more...
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04.02.05 - Rick Collins Lectures to Central Michigan Univerity
Rick Collins lectured this week to classes in the Department of Physical Education & Sport at Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI, on the topic of "Steroids, Law and the Media." The lecture, which included a PowerPoint presentation designed by Rick, was delivered via state-of-the-art videoconferencing, permitting live question and answer periods with the students.
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03.26.05 - Rick Collins in Wall Street Journal
The March 26, 2005 edition of the Wall Street Journal, which features an editorial on anabolic steroids in baseball, quotes Rick Collins and references Legal Muscle. more...
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03.18.05 - Rick Collins Featured in MuscleMag Int
The May 2005 issue of MusleMag International features an interview with Rick Collins on the end of the prohormone market (page 267), calling Rick the "premier steroid lawyer in the United States." Also, don't miss Rick's feature article, "Bodybuilding Muscle Mutants and the Future of Sport Supplements" beginning on page 144 of the same issue.
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03.12.05 - Rick Collins Profiled in FLEX magazine
The latest issue of the popular FLEX magazine, now on shelves, profiles Rick Collins in an article entitled, "Here, There and Everywhere." Writer Shawn Perine begins the piece with, "In bodybuilding circles, his name is thrown around as frequently as T-shirts at the Olympia expo. When bodybuilding makes national headlines, which it has been doing quite a bit of late, RICK COLLINS is among the few field experts called upon to clear up matters..." The story, which includes Rick's achievements in court and at the gym, appears on page 48 of the April '05 issue.
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02.16.05 - Collins in Conference on Sports Law and Ethics
A Conference on Sports Law and Ethics entitled "Winning at All Costs: Today's Addiction" was held in Chicago last week, sponsored by the Valparaiso University School of Law and featuring broadcaster Bob Costas as keynote speaker. Rick Collins was invited to present his views on Doping Issues in College Sports, and served on a panel discussion on the topic. The two and one half day conference was attended by sports lawyers, law students, athletic directors, trainers, sports journalists, and others in the field of sports law.
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12.11.04 - Rick Collins Presents to World Anti-Aging Medicine Conference
Rick Collins presented on the "Legal Issues and Implications of Testosterone and Growth Hormone Therapy" at the "largest ever" world congress on anti-aging medicine and life extension. The symposium, attended by over 4,000 physicians and scientists, took place December 2 through 5, 2004, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rick's lecture focused on distinguishing lawful prescribing practices from illegal dispensation.
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09.30.04 - Rick
Rick's popular monthly column, "Busted: Legal Q & A", continues to educate the bodybuilding community. He draws upon his experience as a criminal defense lawyer and former prosecutor to answer legal questions on a variety of issues involving sports drugs, dietary supplements, criminal laws, and Constitutional rights. If you'd like to have your question answered in an upcoming issue of the magazine, or if you'd just like to tell the editors how much you like Rick's column, send your email to editor@musculardevelopment.com.
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09.15.04 - Rick Collins in MuscleMag International
Rick Collins is featured and pictured in the newest MuscleMag International (issue # 270). Larry Pepe's "Muscle Beach Gossip" column titles the piece with the question, "Can This Guy Get Any Busier?" and discusses Rick's work for the supplement industry, as counsel for the United Supplement Freedom Association (www.usfa.biz), and as the go-to guy when "a hardcore bodybuilder gets in a bit of a jam of one type or another."
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06.07.04 - Collins Article Published in Sports Nutrition Journal
On March 11, 2004, FDA pronounced that dietary supplement products containing androstenedione were adulterated new dietary ingredients under DSHEA. In a groundbreaking article published in the Sports Nutrition Review Journal, 1(1):52-60, 2004, Rick Collins and co-author Alan Feldstein (Of Counsel to Collins, McDonald & Gann, P.C.) analyze the legal grounds and standards upon which FDA acted and suggest what might be done to ameliorate the escalating problem of lack of communication and cooperation between FDA and industry. more...
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02.24.04 - TheFitExpo Lecture on Sports Nutrition Supplements
Rick Collins, Esq., presented a seminar at TheFitExpo (held in conjunction with the Ironman Pro bodybuilding competition) in Pasadena, California, this past weekend. Entitled The Future of Sports Nutrition After Ephedra and the Steroid Scandal, it gave a "heads up" to industry and consumers on the ever-changing legal and regulatory landscape. Also on hand to offer his insights was Los Angeles attorney Alan Feldstein, Esq., a dietary supplement lawyer who recently became part of the team working with Mr. Collins and his expanding law firm.
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02.11.04 - Eye-Opening New Steroid Article Online
Author Patrick Cox has a bold and truthful new article entitled "Pumping Up Steroid Hysteria" in which he interviews bodybuilding's lawyer Rick Collins, Esq., and Dr. Tracy Olrich of CMU about the muscle-building substances from both the legal and scientific standpoints. more...
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02.11.04 - IronLife Magazine Interviews Rick
Rick's interview with BeyondMass.com's Scorpio has been posted at IronLife magazine. more...
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01.29.04 - Dave Palumbo Interviews Rick Collins
Check out Rick's new interview with elite bodybuilder Dave Palumbo. more...
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04.28.03 -
The oral testimony offered by Rick Collins to the U.S. Sentencing Commission is now available online. He is the first witness; later on, he answers questions from the commissioners.
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04.28.03 -
The oral testimony offered by Rick Collins to the U.S. Sentencing Commission is now available online. He is the first witness to testify; later on in the proceeding he answers questions from the Commissioners.
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