In pregnant pause, Kirkland & Ellis thinks best of moms.

THE prevailing image of the high-powered female litigator often has her giving up on family for a dream job.

That's not the case at the Los Angeles office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where 11 of Kirkland's 43 female attorneys have had children in the last 12 months. They won't be getting any flak from the firm's management, either: 11 of 13 female partners have kids.

Not surprisingly, much of the discussion at the company's recent winter lunch at the Peninsula focused on the new arrivals. Another hot topic was the fact that the women were able to utilize one of the firm's best perks--relatively liberal maternity leave policies--by taking an average of four to six months off.

"The best part about it was my male colleagues," said partner Juliette Harrhy, who recently took six months off to have her second child. "They encouraged me to take as much time as I needed."

Harrhy, a member of the corporate practice group, returned to the office Dec. 1. She arrived just in time to get in on Calpine Corp.'s bankruptcy filing. The company was saddled with more than $17 billion in debt, making it one of the biggest cases in U.S. history.

Staff reporter Emily Bryson York can be reached at [phone], ext. 235, or at [e-mail].