In following link there's some utilities which can handle null, or the others ,
http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/lang/apidocs/index.html
for example:

public static Object defaultIfNull(Object object,
                                   Object defaultValue)
Returns a default value if the object passed is null.
 ObjectUtils.defaultIfNull(null, null)      = null
 ObjectUtils.defaultIfNull(null, "")        = ""
 ObjectUtils.defaultIfNull(null, "zz")      = "zz"
 ObjectUtils.defaultIfNull("abc", *)        = "abc"

 ObjectUtils.defaultIfNull(Boolean.TRUE, *) = Boolean.TRUE 
Parameters:
object - the Object to test, may be null
defaultValue - the default value to return, may be null
Returns:
object if it is not null, defaultValue otherwise
or :

public static boolean isEmpty(String str)
Checks if a String is empty  ("") or null.
 StringUtils.isEmpty(null)      = true
 StringUtils.isEmpty("")        = true
 StringUtils.isEmpty(" ")       = false
 StringUtils.isEmpty("bob")     = false
 StringUtils.isEmpty("  bob  ") = false
NOTE: This method changed in Lang version 2.0. It no longer trims the String. That functionality is available in isBlank().
Parameters:
str - the String to check, may be null
Returns:
true if the String is empty or null
or :

public static boolean isBlank(String str)
Checks if a String is whitespace, empty ("") or null.
 StringUtils.isBlank(null)      = true
 StringUtils.isBlank("")        = true
 StringUtils.isBlank(" ")       = true
 StringUtils.isBlank("bob")     = false
 StringUtils.isBlank("  bob  ") = false

Parameters:
str - the String to check, may be null
Returns:
true if the String is null, empty or whitespace
Since:
2.0