Q&A with Daniel Moulis

Daniel Moulis, 56, runs a successful law firm called Moulis Legal, situated right across from Canberra’s airport terminal.
However, pre briefcase days Moulis was actually a well-regarded football player. On the opening day of the National Soccer League in 1977 he was the youngest player in the entire league, at just 16 years of age. Later in his career, he went on to play for the Socceroos and then became the Chairman of the Canberra Cosmos in the 2000-2001 season.
I sat down with Moulis to discuss his life within Football and Law.

Q: What does Football mean to you?
A: “Football is your childhood and your family really. If you are brought up in Football you never ever forget the smell of the grass or the hope of a father, the teamwork and the friends you used to play with. You never forget the way the ball moves through the air, how to control a ball, how to trap a ball. There is a certain poetry to it. As you get older it becomes a real strength as well. As you develop through your youth you get more powerful, you get stronger, you get faster, you jump higher, it becomes a real expression of vitality.”

Q: What are some memorable moments from your pre- professional career?
A: “My old coach the late Jimmy Hayes had some unusual training methods that I will never forget. He used to soak the balls in water all week and in those days, they were leather and as heavy as medicine balls. Hayes told us that when we played on the weekend we would be able to kick the normal game ball that much harder and faster. We used to have to head these balls on a Wednesday night though, zero degrees, it was not a great feeling.”
Q: How was the transition from a playing career into normal life?
A: “It was a tough one mentally since I had to give up playing the game at the highest level due to my ACL injury at the age of 21. I was in my last year of university at the time, so it did cause me to concentrate on my legal studies.”
Q: What are some of the similarities between running a sports club and a law firm?
A: “Aspects like your commitment, hospitality, passion and your ethics. A sports club is a not-for-profit. Even if you are set up on a commercial basis, what you are doing is creating a feeling and a sensation and you are pumping that back into the community. In terms of my law firm I believe it is important to give back to my employees with training and to my customers with the best service possible. At the end of the day in both kinds of organisations it is the feeling that you develop in your business that has value.”