Charles Bentley was a founder and the first dean of Cleveland Law School at its inception in 1897. Born in Chagrin Falls, he earned both a B.A. and an M.A. from Hillsdale College. Bentley studied law in the offices of attorneys in Michigan and Cleveland before his election in 1887 to the Sixth District Court of Appeals, where he remained until his retirement from the bench in 1895. Some of the cases that Bentley handled as a judge established important precedents and principles in the law dealing with the public utilities of petroleum, natural gas and electricity as a motive power. Bentley continued as dean and professor at Cleveland Law School until his retirement in 1914.