Matjaz Nahtigal is head of the Chair in International Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. He teaches courses in international law and international development. Before joining the University of Ljubljana he taught courses on business law and international business law at the Faculty of Management, University of Primorska. Before that, he served in various governments of the Republic of Slovenia in the period between 1999 and 2005. Among others, he was a chief of the cabinet of the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Director of the Office for Legislation, and secretary general of the Office of the President of the Republic of Slovenia. In practice, he was mainly working in the areas of constitutional law, European law, and international law. 

He graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, where he also completed his doctorate. He continued with his graduate studies at Harvard Law School, in the United States, where he finished his master's and doctoral program and obtained a degree in Science Juris Doctor (SJD) in 2001. He studies the areas of legal reforms and inclusive and transparent institutions in the Central and East European Countries during the period of transition and post-transition.

Scientific and professional research and his teaching activities include the studies of institutions and legal, economic, social, and political reforms, as well as international comparative developments on how to establish a more inclusive and transparent institutional framework of the public and private law. He attends the conferences of the European Society of International Law (ESIL), the American Society of International Law (ASIL), and other professional international organizations. He also cooperates with the Foundation for Progressive Studies in Brussels (FEPS).

He published three monographs, several book chapters, and several scientific and professional articles in the areas of law, economics, and social and political theories.