Lauren Pryor is a partner at the nationally renowned law firm of Mayer Brown, where she serves as co-head of the financial institutions mergers and acquisitions group.

Pryor focuses her practice on counseling clients in M&A, corporate and business transactional matters in the residential mortgage industry, including advising publicly held and private companies involved in mergers, acquisitions and divestitures and transfers of assets. Pryor is a Rising Star in a legal and industry specialty that has been dominated by men for decades. There are not a lot of women running material stock and asset acquisitions in the mortgage industry – Pryor is one of them. Purchases and sales of mortgage companies in stock, asset transactions and sales of mort- gage-related assets and loan servicing agreements and technology outsource transactions fall within her transactional wheel house. Recently, Pryor represented a multinational banking institution in multiple acquisitions and sales of mortgage servicing rights that totaled more than $70 billion.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WOULD TELL A YOUNGER VERSION OF YOURSELF?
“‘OK kiddo, get comfortable being uncomfortable.’ I would advise my younger self to take more risks and reach beyond my comfort zone. Looking back, I have grown both professionally and personally when taking on new challenges that require per- severance, creativity and a willingness to be uncomfortable.”