Craig McClellan has obtained more than 150 verdicts and settlements in excess of one million dollars each and is a three-time recipient of the "Outstanding Trial Lawyer Award" from the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego for cases in which million and multi-million-dollar verdicts were obtained. His settlements and verdicts are frequently in the top 50 for the United States and California. One of his final arguments is featured in Million Dollar Arguments.
Craig is the first and only San Diego attorney selected for admission to the Inner Circle of Advocates, a prestigious invitation-only group of the top 100 plaintiff trial lawyers in the United States. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, where he served as President of the San Diego Chapter. He is also a Master of the American Inns of Court and served as President of the Enright Inn. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Chapter of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, and a former Board member of the Consumer Attorneys of California and the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego, where he also served as an officer. Craig has the distinction of being voted by his peers as one of the Best Lawyers in America and its San Diego “Lawyer of the Year” five times, as well as a top 10 "Super Lawyer" for San Diego, having been ranked the number one attorney of all San Diego lawyers in 2019. In addition to these recognitions, Craig was inducted into the San Diego Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame in 2021 and the Lawdragon Hall of Fame in 2022.
He has appeared on public radio and television programs, including 60 Minutes, 20/20, the CBS Evening News and the McNeil-Lehrer Report. Some of his cases are featured in books, including No Contest by Ralph Nader and Wesley J. Smith. One of his cases is featured on the Great Trials Podcast and one of his final arguments appears in "Million Dollar Arguments," by the Professional Techniques Library.
Craig has focused his career on complex, high stakes litigation. His cases include catastrophic personal injury and product liability cases as well as business and intellectual property litigation. He began his practice of law with Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps, eventually starting his own firm, now known as The McClellan Law Firm. He was a Captain in the United States Marine Corps and graduated from California Western School of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review and author of "Physicians Liability: The Sale and Insertion of A Dalkon Shield," 11 California Western Law Review 347.
