Robert Frederick Collins

Robert Frederick Collins (born January 27, 1931) is a civil rights attorney and former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Education and career Collins was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and graduated from Gilbert Academy. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dillard University in 1951 and a Bachelor of Laws from Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University where he was one of the first three African American students admitted in 1954. He was in the United States Army from 1954 to 1956, thereafter entering private practice in New Orleans from 1956 to 1972. He was also an instructor at Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge from 1959 to 1961. He was a magistrate judge for the Criminal District Court of New Orleans from 1972 to 1978. Federal judicial service On January 26, 1978, Collins was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana vacated by Judge Alvin Benjamin Rubin. Collins was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 17, 1978, and received his commission on May 19, 1978, he served until his resignation on August 6, 1993.