Prior to jointly establishing the Teleo Group of companies in 2006, Etienne was a senior associate lawyer at a well-known Sydney based law firm specializing in Australian immigration law. He was recognized for his contributions to the field by being accepted as a Fellow of the Migration Institute of Australia (2014) No: 1057. He has maintained registration with OMARA since 2000 – Migration Agents Registration Number: 0004435. He is also registered with the New Zealand Immigration Adviser Authority as a practitioner – Adviser number: 201000481.
Dr Hugo specializes in all aspects of Australia immigration law, including corporate immigration solutions, business skills visas, and all other specialized applications, complex cases and review matters. He has successfully represented many clients in judicial review cases at the Federal Circuit Court and on appeal, including successful Ministerial Intervention. Dr Hugo has lectured in the Post Graduate Migration Law and Practice program with the Australian National University (ANU) for many years since 2006.
He is one of only 45 accredited specialist immigration lawyers in New South Wales, which is recognized and endorsed by the Law Society of New South Wales, in a profession exceeding 34,000.
Dr Hugo obtained both his BLC (1993) and LLB (1995) degrees with distinction from the University of Pretoria (South Africa) and was awarded a Doctor of Laws degree (LLD) in 2000. He has been a recipient of various academic and research scholarships and awards and has successfully practiced immigration law in Australia for the past 19 years.