Tfb1986- congrats, great dilemma to have.
I basically agree with Timbs' message-- if you really want to practice law, there's plenty of opportunity. I have R-Newark classmates who are in most of the big name firms. But it's actually kind of cool that, unlike a top 15 school, 50-60 % of my colleagues are NOT in the same types of places all doing doc review and writing their first briefs in year 2 or 3. As I scan my Linkedin, I see that my classmates are practically everywhere, and it seems that most are headed on very rewarding paths (and note: there are some very
lucrative areas of law outside of big law).
Let me address your exact situation/questions.
1. Not really. My experience has clearly indicated that the NJ big firm brass is a mix of Seton, Rutgers, and Ivy leaguers that came home to NJ.* The majority of partners I worked with at a big NJ firm were from neither school, though I had enjoyable experiences working with several partners from Rutgers, and a couple more from Seton. Associate hiring really slowed down at my former firm, and they now recruit law clerks (ironically, i am now a federal clerk). The firm thinks highly of Rutgers and has some special programs with it (I'll PM you some detail). It also thinks highly of Seton, in particular, the health law group reliably hires one Seton person per year (given Seton's health law certificate program). As I look around at other firms, there are a spattering of my classmates at most of them.
2. Good question, since Rutgers and Seton put grads into state court clerkships at some of the highest rates in the country (if I recall, about 37%, give or take, of each schools classes recently). I am a couple years out, and am seeing my classmates who did state court clerkships first move on to a wide range of places now. I know App. Div. clerks have been hired by Gibbons, a great Newark firm, and Law Div. clerks have been hired by McCarter and
genova burns. The majority of folks coming out of law/chancery division clerkships are at mid-size firms around Jersey, and some others go into government; both settings provide some great experience doing deps and arguing motions. 4-6 grads per year have been getting N.J. Supreme Clerkships, which obviously open major doors, including big law. And then there are federal clerkships, another obvious door opener, but many of the DNJ judges want people who have practiced for two years (like me), so that's a conundrum. Only three people I know went straight to federal clerkship before practice. Bottom line: if your personable, smart, and have the experience of any clerkship under your belt, you're getting hired by a law firm. If you do law division, you'll need to be tenacious to get the bigger name firms, but you have to realize that you can get good experience at smaller places. If you do App. Div. or higher, the road is pretty well paved for your big firm ambitions.
*National Jurist's dubious attempt at law school rankings did do us the service of counting how many alums of each U.S. law school work at NLJ200 firms, and how many alums are "Super Lawyers." The former is actually kind of helpful. It found that there are more Rutgers alums than Seton alums at the top 200 firms. But most of those are big NY firms like Debevoise, Hughes Hubbard, Cleary Gottlieb….I think that the only NJ firm on that list today is McCarter and English. As far as the "Super Lawyers" list, the Jurist reported that Rutgers and Seton are even in terms of alums on that list. I note: Seton's classes have been much larger than R-Newark's the last two decades.
I urge you to keep an open mind during law school, wherever you go. I found I had a lot of potential interests of areas of practice, and they grew during my three years. After my clerkship, I may well do something much different than defense work at an NJ firm. It is great that you have that very solid goal in mind, but for your own sake (and owing to NJ's hiring slowdown) be mindful of other areas you may want to practice in, and definitely prepare for the high probability that you may do a one year clerkship before joining a firm (most people's clerkships are very rewarding, mind you).