Honorary doctorate for UK lawyer with Rossie roots
Eileen Schofield with her Law Society Lifetime Achievement Award.
An honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University has been conferred on a woman with strong West Roscommon roots.
The West Midlands Irish Business Group has extended its warmest congratulations to its chairperson and founder, Dr Eileen Schofield (hons causa), on receiving the honorary doctorate from her alma mater.
A proud woman of West Roscommon heritage, her parents coming from the Castlerea area, Dr Schofield has forged a remarkable path as a lawyer, business leader, and advocate.
Founding and leading her own successful award-winning employment law firm, Schofield & Associates, based in Solihull, West Midlands and representing businesses around the country and internationally, she also serves in distinguished leadership roles including president, chairperson, board director, non-executive and trustee across numerous organisations. She is also a past president of the Birmingham Law Society and immediate past president of the Solihull Chamber of Commerce. She was also awarded the Lifetime Achievement award by Birmingham Law Society.
Her professional and personal work also bring her over to Ireland on a regular basis, for business and recently to study at Trinity College Dublin where she was awarded a masters equivalent in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in January 2025.
Eileen’s parents were from Castlerea and emigrated to the UK as economic migrants in the 1950s. They married at the Holy Family Church in Small Heath Birmingham, set up home in Bordesley Green and brought up eight children. Eileen’s father worked tirelessly in foundries to support the family, who as teenagers formed the Michaalites, a family ceilidh band playing at Irish dances around Birmingham and Ireland often raising funds to pay for the sick to go to Lourdes.
Dr Schofield has been a tireless champion of the Irish community in Britain.“This honour is a testament to Eileen’s lifelong commitment to excellence, community, and service,” said a spokesperson for the executive committee of The West Midlands Irish Business Group. “She embodies the very best of Irish values — resilience, compassion, and vision — and we are immensely proud to see her achievements recognised in this way.”
