Sarah Heuv­el has been recog­nised at the 2026 Mer­i­tas Women’s Lead­er­ship Awards with the Return­er of the Year Award

Sarah’s achieve­ment reflects both her pro­fes­sion­al excel­lence and remark­able resilience. Return­ing to work at Swaab in Feb­ru­ary 2025 on a part‑time basis just five months after wel­com­ing her baby, Sarah worked two days per week while con­tin­u­ing to build a strong and grow­ing practice.

Dur­ing this peri­od, she exceed­ed many full‑time per­for­mance bench­marks and remained active­ly engaged with clients, indus­try events, and thought lead­er­ship initiatives.

Sarah’s abil­i­ty to return to prac­tice at such a high lev­el while bal­anc­ing sig­nif­i­cant per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al change exem­pli­fies the val­ues we cel­e­brate at Swaab. We are delight­ed to see her efforts recog­nised at the 2026 Mer­i­tas Women’s Lead­er­ship Awards, held on 23 April.

“The Mer­i­tas Women’s Lead­er­ship Awards shine a light on extra­or­di­nary women lawyers, their allies, and firms across the Mer­i­tas net­work that cham­pi­on women’s lead­er­ship,” said Man­ag­ing Part­ner Mary Digiglio. ​“These awards pro­vide a glob­al plat­form to recog­nise the lead­er­ship, impact, and achieve­ments of estab­lished prac­ti­tion­ers, emerg­ing lead­ers, and sup­port­ers world­wide. We are incred­i­bly proud that Sarah has been hon­oured with this recognition.”

The annu­al Mer­i­tas Women’s Lead­er­ship Awards, cre­at­ed by the Mer­i­tas Women’s Lead­er­ship Con­gress, reflect the network’s com­mit­ment to diver­si­ty and inclu­sion by recog­nis­ing and cel­e­brat­ing the lead­er­ship jour­neys of women lawyers across its mem­ber firms. Through its ini­tia­tives, the Con­gress sup­ports pro­fes­sion­al growth by fos­ter­ing vis­i­bil­i­ty, men­tor­ship, knowl­edge shar­ing, and skills devel­op­ment, while encour­ag­ing col­lab­o­ra­tion among firms to strength­en recruit­ment, reten­tion, and the advance­ment of women lead­ers. Award sub­mis­sions were reviewed and win­ners select­ed by a glob­al pan­el of peers and indus­try experts.

About Mer­i­tas 

Mer­i­tas’ glob­al alliance of inde­pen­dent, mar­ket-lead­ing law firms pro­vides bor­der­less legal ser­vices to com­pa­nies look­ing to effec­tive­ly cap­ture oppor­tu­ni­ties and solve issues any­where in the world. Com­pa­nies ben­e­fit from local knowl­edge, col­lec­tive strength, and new effi­cien­cies when they work with Mer­i­tas law firms. The per­son­al atten­tion and care they expe­ri­ence is part of Mer­i­tas’ indus­try-first com­mit­ment to the utmost in qual­i­ty of ser­vice and putting client pri­or­i­ties above all else. Found­ed in 1990, Mer­i­tas has mem­ber firms in 244 mar­kets world­wide with more than 9,200 ded­i­cat­ed, col­lab­o­ra­tive lawyers. To locate a Mer­i­tas resource for a spe­cif­ic need or in a cer­tain mar­ket, vis­it Mer​i​tas​.org or call +1 – 612 339‑8680