Justin Hughes teaches intellectual property, international trade, and internet law at Cardozo Law School, where students selected him for best professor awards in 2000, 2006, and 2009. He was Director of the law school's Intellectual Property Program from 2004 through 2008.

From 1997 to 2001, Professor Hughes did policy work at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), focusing on the Administration's initiatives in Internet-related intellectual property as well as intellectual property law in developing economies. He is the author of several articles on intellectual property, internet law, international arbitration, and linguistics.

Prior to working in Washington, Professor Hughes practiced law in Paris and Los Angeles. As a Henry Luce Scholar, he clerked for the Lord President of the Malaysian Supreme Court in Kuala Lumpur.

In the 1990s, Professor Hughes did volunteer work in democracy development in Latin America, west Africa, and the Balkans, including serving as deputy producer for the first televised presidential debates in Bosnia (1998) following the Dayton Peace Accords. Since 2006, he has served as chairman of the Thomson Foundation for Film and Television Heritage, headquartered in Paris.

Professor Hughes was educated at Oberlin and Harvard.