Yes, we can do that or use NonNullLinkedHashMap explicitly, i.e. as the return type of the getter. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4091090#4091090 Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&p=4091090