Bentleys Find Opportunity in Small Town Living

Kelli & Nathan Bentley were high school sweethearts from S-E-M and Amherst who eventually married and started a family. They moved their family, which now includes three young boys (Camden 13; Preston, 10; and Jax, 2) to Holdrege in August 2020 after experiencing big city life in New York City and Omaha.

“We went to NYC to experience living in the city and for the opportunity for me to work at a big law firm,” Nathan said. “It was a great experience, but we moved to Omaha because after years of me working 70-plus hours every week. I was burned out and ready for something different. Omaha was also a good experience, but it never felt like home to us. It wasn’t a community as everyone was going a thousand different directions. We wanted to be in a place where you interact with the same people in all aspects of life.”

Nathan and his friend Chris Hays, who also moved back to central Nebraska after living out of state and overseas, started the law firm Bentley Hays LLP. Their firm advises clients in transactions and disputes with large institutions.

“I help people deal with the federal and state government, banks, insurance companies, and the large companies I represented in my past life,” Nathan said.

Nathan said he enjoys the opportunity to now be selective with his clients and work and that he also has time to be involved with other ventures and volunteer activities.

“I also enjoy when opposing counsel underestimates our capabilities since our law firm is in rural Nebraska,” he said.

Nathan said he and Kelli looked at a lot of communities when choosing a place to live, but the “stars really aligned for us in Holdrege.”

“Holdrege is a great place to raise a family, and we think it’s the perfect size,” he said. “It’s not so big to be impersonal and not so small to be lacking opportunities. People here just have a sensibility about themselves. We have met a lot of wonderful people, in addition to the people we already knew, and there are so many opportunities to get involved and be a part of a community.”