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Mr. Hughes received his Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) at South Dakota State University in 1979 and went on to obtain his Juris Doctor (With Distinction) in 1982 from University of Nebraska College of Law.

During law school he was elected by the faculty to the Order of the Coif, worked as an Associate Editor and also the Executive Editor of the Nebraska Law Review, won the Allen Appellate Competition Oral Argument, received the American Jurisprudence Award in Labor Law and was granted the Winthrop & Francis Lane Foundation Scholarship.

He carries an AV Preeminent Peer Ratings and Client Review rating with Martindale-Hubbell which is the highest peer rating standard. This is given to attorneys who are ranked at the highest level of professional excellence for their legal expertise, communication skills, and ethical standards by their peers.

He is a member of the South Dakota State Bar Association, South Dakota Trial Lawyers Association, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court Bar, Eagle Butte, South Dakota, Nebraska State Bar Association, Association of Trial Lawyers of America – Advocate of Trial Advocacy, Fellow, Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA).

He is admitted to practice in the following courts: South Dakota Supreme Court, Nebraska Supreme Court, United States Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, United States District Court for the District of South Dakota, United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.

Tammen v. Tronvold, 2021 S.D. 56, 965 N.W.2d 161 (2021)
Ormand v. Sanford Clinic, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48001 (D.S.D 2010)
Short v. Womack, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 562 (D.S.D 2010)
Cox v. Baker & Taylor, Inc., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96205 (D.S.D 2007)
Schoon v. Looby, 2003 SD 123; 670 N.W.2d 885 (S.D. 2003)
Nielsen v. Boos, 1997 SD 117, 571 N.W.2d 653 (S.D. 1997)
Nichols Media Consultants v. Ken Morehead Inv. Co., 491 N.W.2d 368 (Neb. 1992)
Robert L. Carr Co. v. City of Sioux Falls, 416 N.W.2d 602 (S.D. 1987)
Schwartz v. First Nat’l Bank, 390 N.W.2d 568 (S.D. 1986)
Flagtwet v. Smith, 367 N.W.2d 188 (S.D. 1985)

“When Does a Buyer Become a Buyer in Ordinary Course? U.C.C. § § 1-201(9), 9-307(1): A Test and a Proposal” 60 Nebraska Law Review 848 (1981), (2,837 Downloads globally as of 11/03/2021 as reported on Digital Commons@University of Nebraska – Lincoln Notifications Systems), cited in Wood, “Transplanted Legal Controversies: Buyer Status Under Secured Transactions Law” 54 Tex. Int’ L.J. 305 (2019), Hanford, “Priority of Buyer In Ordinary Course Over the Secured Creditor—The Confusions Surrounding Section 9-307(1)” Uniform Commercial Code Law Journal (Spring 1996), Livingston, “Certainty, Efficiency, and Realism: Rights In Collateral Under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code 73 North Carolina Law Review 115 (1994), Frish, “Buyer Status Under the U.C.C.: A Suggested Temporal Definition,” 72 Iowa Law Review 531 (1987), Baird and Jackson, “Possession and Ownership: An Examination of the Scope of Article 9, 35 Stanford Law Review 175 (1983)

Palmer v. Westgate Towing (S.D. Supreme Court)
Hudelson v. Smith (S.D. Supreme Court)
Jackson v. Solem (8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals)