Tip for increased speed in laying out UVs:

For fast cutting, moving and sewing UVs, try this workflow. These instructions just involve clicking the mouse buttons and dragging in a certain direction quickly then releasing.

Turn on edge selection: RMB + drag_up
Select the edges to cut: (click or lasso) Shift, Ctrl, Shift+Ctrl LMB as usual
Cut edges: Shift + RMB + drag_left
Select edges to move and sew: See above
Move and sew edges: Shift + RMB + drag_up

Repeat as necessary.

If you're not familiar with these marking menus, if you hold down the mouse button until the labels pop up you can easily see which options are available. However, as you get familiar, and let me tell you with UVs it's so monotonous it takes 30 seconds, you can just drag and let go without giving the labels time to appear. You'll never hit those panel icons again!

Disclaimer: Having said that, I don't have Maya here and so I may have forgotten whether it was Ctrl or Shift, but I think Ctrl + RMB allows you to expand selections to shells etc.