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Oliver Barr McClellan, entrepreneur and author, was born in 1939 in Cuero (aka Rawhide), Texas, and in 1944-1951 lived in Maracaibo, where he learned Spanish, spent time in the oilfield swamps and learned soccer. He also survived an airline crash in Mexico City in 1946. He graduated from Jefferson High School in San Antonio in 1957 (class president, graduation speaker), then enrolled at the University of Texas in Austin where he won the O.Henry and William Jennings Bryan literary awards. He graduated with honors, BA, with special honors in international studies, 1961, JD, 1964. As a student McClellan was an active supporter of Senator John F. Kennedy's presidential bid. After qualifying as a lawyer in 1964, he went to work for the administration of Kennedy's successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson. Initially he was attorney-clerk for the National Labor Relations Board; soon after, he became attorney for a Commissioner of the Federal Power Commission.

In 1966 McClellan joined the legal firm of Clark, Thomas, Harris, Denius and Winters, based in Austin. At that time the firm was run by the partners Edward Clark, Sam Winters, Don Thomas, Martin Harris and Frank Denius. The firm was closely associated with Lyndon B. Johnson and the Democratic Party in Texas. McClellan's work included advising on political strategy, campaign contributions, media issues, and labor disputes. McClellan was a registered lobbyist for several major Texas energy companies. His main focus was utility regulation and oil and gas litigation. He was lead counsel in setting natural gas rates for the Rocky Mountain Area. He also chaired the industry committee setting Railroad Commission administrative procedures. He obtained a Supreme Court ruling to protect San Antonio parklands from freeways. McClellan was lead counsel in a proceeding to consolidate oilfields over a five county area in North Texas. In addition, he was host for the Austin TV series, "The Law and You."

In 1972, McClellan became a full partner in the firm but later resigned from the firm after a dispute with Clark and Leon Jaworski over representing a client in direct conflict with existing clients. After one year as University Attorney, McClellan established his own law firm in 1977. Some of McClellan's cases included litigation for exploding Ford Pintos, tobacco-caused expenses on the health care system and the licensing and regulation of cell phones.

McClellan's first wife was former Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Carole Keeton Strayhorn. He is the father of Scott McClellan, former White House press secretary, and Mark McClellan, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner and former director of Medicare for the George W. Bush administration* [1] Two other sons, Dudley McClellan and Bradley McClellan, are attorneys in Austin, Texas. McClellan is also related to Union General George McClellan, the Democrat's presidential candidate in 1864, and to George B. McClellan, New York City Mayor, 1903-07.

McClellan and his wife Cecile live in Gulfport, Mississippi. The McClellans are also business consultants with offices in New York City. He is rewriting a novel on the death penalty, and is producing a play first presented in Houston in 1992 plus a new one (as promised) for Cecile, on happiness.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Barr McClellan", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0