Matjaž Nahtigal lectures on commercial and international law at the Faculty of Management, University of Primorska. In 2021 - 2025, he was the head of the Department of International Relations at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. He lectured on international law and theories of international development. Before that, he lectured on commercial law and international law at the Faculty of Management, University of Primorska. Before that, he held several positions in various governments of the Republic of Slovenia from 1999 to 2005. Among other things, he was the head of the Prime Minister's Cabinet, Director of the Government Office for Legislation, and Secretary General of the Office of the President of the Republic of Slovenia. In practice, he mainly dealt with the areas of constitutional, European 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.