Liam Hamilton overcame early obstacles to reach the highest judicial office in the State. He was born the eldest of five children into modest, but respectable, circumstances in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, on January 30th, 1928, where his father, Richard, was a former garda and a chemist's assistant. His mother was a music teacher.
Liam Hamilton attended the local Christian Brothers school, but there was no question of a university education. Like many bright young men in those days, he won a place in the Civil Service, where he joined the Department of Justice and was soon sent to work in the High Court office in Dublin.
There he availed of the opportunity for further study, and studied at UCD and the King's Inns. He soon came to prominence there, winning the prestigious John Brooks Exhibition in 1955, and serving as auditor of the law students' debating society between 1954 and 1956, when he was called to the Bar.
He married Maeve Gibney from Kells, Co Meath, and they had three children, Ruth, Julie and William. As a barrister, he built a reputation as a labour lawyer, and he joined the Labour Party in 1958. He unsuccessfully contested the Rathmines ward in the subsequent local elections. While this was his only electoral outing, he remained known for his Labour Party sympathies, at the time a rare commodity at the Bar.
He was called to the Inner Bar in 1968, where he continued his practice in personal injuries and labour law.
His political affiliations undoubtedly helped in his appointment as a High Court judge by the Fine Gael-Labour coalition in 1974. However, he became one of the bench's most popular judges with lawyers and litigants alike.