Tihomir Lukes was born on 12 February 1952 in the town of Zavidovići in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After finishing elementary school and Gymnasium in Maglaj, he entered the Law Faculty of the University of Sarajevo, where he graduated in 1976. After completing his judicial internship and passing his bar examination, he worked as a judge since 1977 and subsequently as the President of the Maglaj Municipal Court until 1986. He worked in the judiciary as a judge of the Higher Court of Doboj during the period 1990-1992. After that period, he went to Sweden in 1992 and returned to Maglaj in 2002 to be a judge of the Municipal Court, where he worked until February 2002, after which time he continued working as a judge at the Doboj District Court. He was appointed as a judge of BiH Court on 13 December 2007.