Mr Adrian Hardiman SC - long one of the State's most high-profile lawyers - is a more remarkable nomination to the Supreme Court benches than Ms Justice Catherine McGuinness.
His lack of judicial experience and his links with the Progressive Democrats, which he helped to found, are likely to be used by the Opposition to criticise his nomination straight to the highest court in the State.
However, there is absolutely no doubting the man's high professional ability and there is already talk in the Four Courts about him being a potential future Chief Justice.
Mr Hardiman (49) has a reputation as a formidable courtroom opponent and has been involved in many high-profile cases. He has often taken on work which interests him, particularly in the political area.
He represented the Well Woman Centre in the early 1990s in its successful legal battle against the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) over the provision of information on abortion.
He was one of the most prominent lawyers at the beef tribunal, where he represented the PDs and their then leader, Mr Des O'Malley. His performance in cross-examining the then Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, was judged by both friend and foe as one of the best seen at the tribunal.
Some colleagues wondered yesterday why he accepted the Supreme Court nomination at this stage in his extremely successful and lucrative career as a senior counsel.
Mr Hardiman was born in Coolock, Dublin, in 1951. His father was a teacher and president of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland. He was educated at Belvedere College, Dublin, and studied history at UCD before attending the King's Inns.
He has said he was almost diverted into history, a subject which he lists as one of his main interests. He was called to the bar in 1974, the same year that he married a fellow barrister, Ms Yvonne Murphy, a circuit court judge. They have three sons, including twins. Mr Hardiman became a senior counsel in 1989 and has had an extensive practice dealing with administrative law, libel, and some criminal work. He has also been a frequent commentator on legal issues, contributing to newspapers, journals and television programmes.
He was involved in student politics and stood unsuccessfully for Fianna Fail at the local elections in Dun Laoghaire in 1985.
As a founding member of the Progressive Democrats, it looked for a time as if politics rather than the law would attract his intellectual skills.
Mr Hardiman has long been a familiar face in Doheny and Nesbitt, the Shelbourne Hotel and the Unicorn restaurant, but his appointment to the highest court in the land may mean he will have to curtail his social life.
He describes his hobbies as reading, walking and visiting sites of historical interest.