Prior to his retirement, Judge Clyne served as a New Jersey Superior Court Judge for over 21 years. During his ten year tenure as Ocean County’s Civil Presiding Judge, he was ranked in the New Jersey Law Journal as being among the top ten judges in the state in “ability to foster settlement” and “ability to handle complex cases.” For the last seven years, Judge Clyne served as Presiding Judge of the Chancery Division, Ocean County. During his career he served as Chair of the statewide Conference of Civil Presiding Judges and as Chair of the statewide Conference of General Equity and Probate Judges. He also served in the Family Division and Probate Part. Judge Clyne has participated in the resolution of thousands of cases involving personal injury, construction, breach of contract, corporate disputes, dissolution of businesses, medical malpractice, land use, title to real property, foreclosure, family matters, etc.

Judge Clyne completed mediation training at Harvard University and The National Judicial College. He also completed specialized training in the area of mediation of land use disputes at the Lincoln Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Prior to serving in the judiciary, Judge Clyne was in general practice which included personal injury, business transactions, family matters and appearances before zoning and planning boards. While practicing law, Judge Clyne taught Business Law at Ocean County College.

He received his B.A. degree from Hobart College and his J.D. degree from Rutgers University, Newark where he was an editor of the Law Review.

Benchmark Resolution Services provides dispute resolution assistance to attorneys and individual parties who are involved in litigation which has been docketed in Court - or in some instances where litigation has been threatened and the parties wish to proceed with dispute resolution prior to the formal filing of any documents. These dispute resolution services take three forms: mediation, arbitration, and complex case management.

In every dispute the parties will at some time discuss the potential for settlement with their attorney. Studies over the last several years have revealed that the settlement can, in many instances, be reached with the assistance of a qualified independent third party facilitator. The function of Benchmark in the mediation process is to provide a retired judge who will act as a third party facilitator in the conduct of settlement negotiations between the parties. The retired judge/mediator does not represent any of the parties. The retired judge/mediator meets with the parties and their attorneys, discusses the issues and the options for settlement. The retired judge/mediator then will meet with the parties individually. All discussions, by statute, are confidential and privileged.

In many cases the parties cannot settle. They may have agreed prior to a dispute arising to submit any disagreement to arbitration. This circumstance usually arises where the parties had previously entered into a contract which required that any disagreement with regard to the contract would be resolved by arbitration. In the alternative, during a dispute the parties may agree that they do not wish to submit their disagreement to the courts. This decision may be based on a cost analysis, a concern for time delay, a desire for confidentiality or a combination of all of the foregoing. When a matter is submitted to Benchmark for arbitration, a retired judge acts as the final decision maker. The retired judge reviews the documents, listens to testimony, entertains argument and renders the ultimate decision.

In some complex cases, disputes arise with regard to pre-trial preparation. For example: the parties cannot agree on the propriety of written questions being asked as part of the pre-trial discovery process, or the parties cannot agree on the documents which a party is being asked to produce, or the parties cannot agree on the persons, times, or places for depositions. In such circumstances counsel often recognize the prohibitive cost and time delay associated with bringing formal motions before the court. In such circumstances the parties will turn to a third party to resolve pre-trial discovery and scheduling issues. Unless the parties agree otherwise, such services are provided by Benchmark which incorporates and makes reference to an Order Appointing Discovery Master which is to be signed by the sitting judge who is assigned the case.

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