From Park Avenue to Illinois Street
Thomas Strommen spent the first eight years of his career at Sullivan & Crane, a 900‑attorney firm in Midtown Manhattan. He billed 2,400 hours a year, rode the elevator with people whose names he never learned, and watched junior associates get handed files that partners had already negotiated in conference rooms they'd never enter.
In 2012, he came home. He leased a storefront on Illinois Street, put his shingle on the door, and started taking walk‑ins.
Fourteen years later, the firm has grown to four attorneys and a full‑time paralegal, and the mission is unchanged: give small‑town Nebraskans the quality of legal work a big city pays four times as much for.
What makes us different
A lot of lawyers say "we treat you like family." Here's what that actually looks like at Mattoon, Martens & Strommen:
- The attorney you meet is the attorney who handles your case. No handoffs, no "let me check with someone and call you back."
- We return calls same‑day when we can and within one business day always. Research says firms that reply within a minute convert leads 400% better. That's a bar we aim for.
- Flat fees whenever possible. Wills, closings, entity formation — you know the price before we start.
- Plain language. If you leave our office less clear than when you walked in, we've failed.
- We'll refer you out if your matter is better served by a specialist. Our job is your outcome, not our revenue.
"In New York I had the resources of a small country at my back. I learned more in my first six months taking walk‑ins on Illinois Street than in all of it."
Our community
Mattoon, Martens & Strommen sponsors the Cheyenne County 4‑H auction, the Sidney High mock trial team, and the annual bar association fundraiser for the Panhandle legal aid clinic. Tom sits on the board of the Cheyenne County Historical Association. Emily volunteers at the Domestic Violence Advocacy Center. Michael coaches his son's little league team.
We take it as a basic professional obligation: you don't ask a community for business if you're not willing to show up for it.
Bar admissions & associations
- →Nebraska State Bar Association
- →Cheyenne County Bar Association
- →American Bar Association
- →Panhandle Rural Legal Aid Advisory Board