Mr. Hughes, a resident of Aspen, Colorado, is the author of Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family, and of Family – The Compact Among Generations, both published by Bloomberg Press, and is the co–author with Susan Massenzio and Keith Whitaker of The Cycle of the Gift: Family Wealth and Wisdom, The Voice of the Rising Generation, and Complete Faith Wealth, all published by John Wiley & Sons and is a co-author with Hartley Goldstone and Keith Whitaker of Family Trusts: A Guide to Trustees, Beneficiaries, Advisors and Protectors". In addition, he has written numerous articles on family governance and wealth preservation and a series of Reflections which can be found on his website jamesehughes.com.

He was the founder of a law partnership in New York City specializing in the representation of private clients throughout the world and is now retired from the active practice of law. Mr. Hughes was a partner of the law firms of Coudert Brothers and Jones Day.

He is a current active Fellow of Wise Counsel Research Foundation a Boston based think tank providing qualitative advice to families who seek to avoid the shirt sleeves proverb and to help their families flourish.

He is a member of the Advisory Board of Arlington Partners; a Fellow of the Family Firm Institute, a member of the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners, a founding member of the Collaboration for Family Flourishing and a Laureate of the Purposeful Planning Institute.

He has spoken frequently at numerous international and domestic symposia on the avoidance of the shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves proverb and on the dynamic growth of families’ human, intellectual, social, spiritual and financial capitals toward their families’ flourishing.

He has authored various Forwards to multiple published works on families and their flourishing and has been cited in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and various professional journals.

He is a member of boards of various private trust companies, an advisor to numerous investment institutions, and a member of a number of private philanthropic boards.

He is a graduate of the Far Brook School, which teaches through the Arts, The Pingry School, Princeton University and The Columbia School of Law. He is a counselor to the Family Office Exchange and recipient of its Founder’s Award, the recipient of the Private Asset Management Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ackerman Institute Family Partner Award, and the Wealth Management Lifetime Achievement Award.