Mr Declan Moylan's personal project for 2001 is to develop a knowledge of Germany and the Germans.

"If somebody is making my economic policy, I'd like to know how they think," he says. "I think it's important to understand the people you're dealing with."

Of the presidential election in the US, he says no European state would have voted Mr George W. Bush, or indeed Ronald Reagan, into the job. "They should be respected for their choice. Europeans have a snobbery about American politics. They expect Americans to do as Europeans would do."

A high-end lawyer with an eye on the long-term trend, he believes business sense is just as necessary as a good legal mind when making a deal. An ability to anticipate future developments is crucial, he adds.

Managing partner since mid1999 of Dublin law firm Mason Hayes & Curran and its dot.com-focused affiliate eMHC, he says "a problem is only ever an opportunity".

Mr Moylan's travels in the early 1990s helped establish key contacts with law firms in the US, Britain and Scandinavia - and no observer of political systems would pass the opportunity to look at the local scene.

Of his frequent visits to the US, he says: "I come back refreshed and challenged with the realisation that there are people who really know how to listen to any business proposition. They always give one a respectful hearing with no preconditions and no baggage.

"I think we take a lot of our own baggage when we look at the Americans."

Such travels proved eminently useful when the Republic's economy went into overdrive, pushed into the fast lane by large-scale investment by big US companies. The strategy's key, says Mr Moylan, was to make his firm known in locations where the choice of lawyer was made for big projects.

International business now generates about half Mason Hayes & Curran's revenues, and the company encourages its young solicitors to work abroad. "This consolidates our relationships and familiarises lawyers with the demands of very sophisticated clients."

Though crucial to the firm's expansion, the international policy was not its exclusive driver. Mason Hayes & Curran has reached critical mass with 46 lawyers, he says. The firm had about 10 when Mr Moylan joined it in 1989.

"We're a top six firm, but we decided that we wouldn't simply go for growth. We made a deliberate decision to not take everybody on in all fields, but to excel in focused areas."

The company chose four areas in which to specialise: IT law; litigation; human resources; and corporate, including mergers and acquisitions, securities, privatisations and venture capital.

"We only ever promoted areas in which we truly had expertise."

In the domestic market, it identified growth opportunities as the State began to sell large assets. It represented FLS Industries when it bought TEAM Aer Lingus. In addition, Mr Moylan says the firm will advise the Government on the retail offer of Aer Lingus shares when the State airline is floated.

Other opportunities were seen in the liberalisation of sectors formerly dominated by State-owned monopolies. While the firm has acted for licensees as the telecoms business liberalises, it has also acted for the Commission for Electricity Regulation in the newly competitive power market.

Mason Hayes & Curran has also established a strategic alliance with a Belfast company, Carson McDowell. Their alliance, known as i-law, has already been appointed to the panel of solicitors for Waterways Ireland, one of six North-South bodies created under the Belfast Agreement.

Mr Moylan adds: "We perceive it's just possible that because of high employment levels in the South, the pattern of investment from the US may shift into the North."

On prospects for the Republic's economy this year, he says: "In fundamental terms I have faith in the market. We will see a slowdown but I don't think we'll ever go back to the type of conditions we were used to. As a nation, we're great entrepreneurs. There will be rough patches but I don't see we'll ever go back."

Such forward thinking is characteristic. From south Dublin and a son of a solicitor, Mr Moylan wanted first to work as a diplomat.

Why foreign affairs? "What attracted me was my interest in history and politics, I suppose also, the opportunity to travel periodically and to act in some sort of representative capacity."

Similar factors are involved in his position now, says Mr Moylan. "Law was my second choice and for me it was the right choice."

What stimulates a solicitor? "On the corporate side . . . a high-quality case has elements of legal complexity and commercial reality." The boom means senior lawyers working in places such as London can return to Dublin in the expectation of high-level work, he adds.

Asked about labour market tightening, he says: "There is competition for the best workers and its inevitable consequence is wage inflation. That worries me and it worries every enterprise."

Wage inflation meant employers would move in the future to bonus-based remuneration packages, related to profits and productivity.

So what makes a good lawyer?

Intelligence, he says, in addition to an impressive academic record, a sense of humour and a capacity for hard work.

"Some sort of instinctive business sense is just as important as a legal sense," he adds.

"Half of it is business sense, but based on a solid legal foundation. You can add to that the additional factor of having the gift of being able to attract clients through personality and business skill."