He earned both a Juris Doctor with honors and a Master of Arts in English at a joint degree program at Duke University in 1992.

He clerked for Robert B. Krupansky of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

In 1994, he joined the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Civil Division at the United States Department of Justice as a trial attorney.

[1] At the DOJ, Hughes handled matters of federal personnel law, veterans' benefits, international trade, government contracts, and jurisdictional issues regarding the United States Court of Federal Claims.

[1] On February 7, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Hughes to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, to the seat vacated by Judge William Curtis Bryson who assumed senior status on January 7, 2013.