public static <T> List<T> emptyList(final List<T> list) {
    return (list != null ? list : Collections.emptyList());
  }
Null-safe implementation for method invocations that return a List Collection. If the returned
List is null, then this method will return an empty List in it's place.
<p>

@param <T> the class type of the List's elements.
@param list the target List to verify as not null.
@return the specified List if not null otherwise return an empty List.
geode-core/src/main/java/org/apache/geode/internal/util/CollectionUtils.java