Washington paid leave sinking, women lawyers rising

The bad news and then the good news. First, Washington's groundbreaking paid family leave program may be going down the toilet, done in by a bad economy and a governor who can make herself seem fiscally conservative by cutting a controversial new program, even though it's small change compared to the many-billion-dollar deficit the state faces and it's a social support families need now more than ever in these tough times. Officially, Governor Gregoire is just "suspending" work to set up the program, not killing it, but it will be hard work to get it going again once setup is halted. And you can forget about it and a lot of other good programs if her opponent, Republican Dino Rossi, unseats her in the upcoming election.

Now the good news, or maybe it's the good news-bad news: Although women have made up at least half of law school graduates and new hires at big firms for the last 20 years, there are few women partners at the top firms. That's largely because of the hostility of the profession to mothers: according to the Los Angeles Times, about 42 percent of women leave the profession because of a lack of family-friendly policies. But (here's the good news part), the LA Times also reports, firms are finally beginning to see the error of their ways, implementing mother-friendly policies, like longer maternity leave and part-time positions.

I've got to harsh my own buzz now: Until these policies are made mandatory for all companies across the country, they will remain the privileges of the lucky few.