Gary Hughes is a leading independent lawyer in New Zealand, specialising in all types of regulatory investigations and cases, including advocacy and compliance advice.

His expertise has been developed over more than two decades working to resolve client issues with business crime regulators – e.g. NZ’s AML/CFT Supervisors, Serious Fraud Office, Police FIU, Commerce Commission, and other government agencies. Along with 4 years working in London, his experience includes briefs involving AUSTRAC in Australia, the US DOJ, the Cook Islands, and B.C. Canada.

Gary is widely regarded as NZ’s most experienced Anti-Money Laundering lawyer. He helped ACAMS become first established in New Zealand in 2008, then served as a director of the ACAMS Australasian Chapter for many years, and is now Technical Advisory Director to the Chapter board. Other pro bono roles include acting as the International Bar Association’s country officer for Anti-Corruption issues, and TRACE International’s NZ law partner.

Gary works as a barrister from Akarana Chambers in Auckland and is author of an online textbook for the legal profession on AML/CFT Law (Thomson Reuters Westlaw, 2018). As well as financial crime, he also handles antitrust (competition & consumer), insurance, privacy, technology, and contract law cases.