As a female dealmaker, Martha McGarry was in rare company when she became a mergers and acquisitions partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom more than three decades ago. 

After 43 years at the firm, she decided to make a change, moving over to Mayer Brown in early August and taking the role of co-head of the firm’s U.S. M&A practice. That still puts her in a fairly small group of people: women heading an M&A practice at a major law firm.