 McCracken was appointed a High Court judge in 1995 and was elevated to Ireland's Supreme Court in 2002.His in-depth expertise in the field of intellectual property law was widely recognised but he also had expertise in both chancery and commercial law.Judge McCracken was appointed as the sole member of the McCracken Tribunal which was set up by the Bruton Government in February 1997 to investigate reports of secret payments by Ben Dunne to former Taoiseach Charles Haughey and former cabinet Minister Michael Lowry and others.