This past February, Keith Hirokawa at Albany organized the excellent 2011 Northeast Regional Scholarship and Teaching Development Workshop. After dinner on the first night, there was a discussion/panel entitled "Women as Teachers and Scholars." One of the topics of discussion about access to information didn't hit home for me until recently. The heart of the discussion centered around the fact that many women were not sure what the maternity/paternity leave policies were at their school. Additionally, there was a lack of information about what other schools did. (FWIW -- besides the FMLA, we get a course release (3 units) to be taken within a year after the child's birth here at Buffalo).
I was surprised that people didn't know this because we are often well versed in other leave policies. For example, I would be shocked if a room full of junior scholars couldn't tell you their school policies for research leave, junior (or productive scholar) course relief, or sabbaticals. Yet, the lack of information and understanding about family leave policies seems widespread. My general sense from talking to friends (and some are teaching in departments other than law) is that each person's leave is individually negotiated based on the timing of the leave and that person's perceived worth to the institution.
The reasons for this lack of information is probably unsurprising (but perhaps no less disheartening). We tend to be afriad to ask. When we ask about research leaves available to junior faculty during an interview, we send a signal that we are serious scholars looking for time to write. When we ask about maternity leave, we worry that we are sending out the opposite signal. During my interviews, I think I only asked one or two schools about maternity leave -- and only when I felt very comfortable with the person I was talking to or they brought it up. We know that this is a touchy topic legally. Obviously, the prospective employer can't ask you if you are planning to have kids.(but that shouldn't stop them from just generally outlining all leave policies)
The lack of questioning about such policies may also contribute to the ad hoc nature of parental leave. If there is not a large junior faculty or many people questioning such policies, there may not be the motivation to put things in writing. While individuals here and there may benefit from an unwritten policy giving them room to negotiate, I think there is a good reason to have clear parental leave policies. Additonally, making those leaves public will help people at other schools improve their policies. Arguably, this is why many big law firms have such good maternity leave policies -- because everyone knows what the competition is doing.