Barbara Preložnjak was born in Zagreb in 1980. Having graduated from grammar school, she enrolled in the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, where she graduated in law in 2003 and enrolled in the postgraduate PhD course in civil and family law. She obtained her MA degree in 2009 and in 2013 her PhD, having defended her dissertation titled „Liberal justice theories and free legal aid systems“.

From 2003 to 2004 she did her traineeship in the Municipal Court in Zagreb, and from 2005 in the County Court in Zagreb. She passed her bar exam in 2007.

Barbara Preložnjak has been employed with the Faculty of Law since 2009, first as a research assistant on the project Familiarity with and acceptance of the values of European and international law (Ministry of Science, Education and Sport, project code: 066-0661428-1303, project leader: Prof. Ivan Šimonović) at the Department of General Theory of Law and State, and as a senior research assistant from May 2013. She was appointed scientific associate on 15 October 2015, and on 4 May 2016 assistant professor at the same department. She was appointed senior research assistant on 22 April 2021, and associate professor at the Department of Family Law on 9 September 2021.

She is entered into the Register of Researchers under the number 300953.

She participated in international scientific projects of the Jean Monnet Chair “Introducing new courses and increasing the impact of teaching in the area of European Business Law, EC Competition Law and Internal Market Law for Croatian graduate and undergraduate students” (2008-2009), “Acces2Justice4All: Clinical legal education – Supporting the access to justice in SEE”, Europa-Institut of Saarland University / South East European Law School Network / Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) (2018.), Transformation of Civil Justice under the Influence of Global and Regional Integration Processes. Unity and Diversity (2014-2018) and the national project „The new Croatian legal system“ of the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb (2014-2019). In 2019 she was an associate in the application of the COST project (Quality of Legislation (QL), Proposal Reference: OC-2020-1-24990; project leader: Prof.dr.sc. Giovanni Battista Ratti) Modernising European Legal Education – MELE, Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership, No. 2020-1-DE01-KA203-005715 (2020.-), „Legal Clinics in Service of Vulnerable Groups: Enhancing the Employability of Law Students through Practical Education – ENEMLOS“, Erasmus+ Capacity Building, No. 610449-EPP-12019-1-MEEPPKA2-CBHE-JP (2019. -), and in the national project “Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights on child welfare protection measures“ Faculty of Law (Department of Family Law) University of Zagreb (2021-2023).

She is the author of over 20 scientific and professional papers published in international and domestic publications (https://www.bib.irb.hr/pregled/profil/24117).

She has presented papers at more than 20 international and domestic scientific and professional conferences. She is the recipient of the 2019 Outstanding Speaker Award at the SGEM Vienna conference for her scientific paper „Limitation of Parental Autonomy and Its Justification in the Case of Immediate Medical Intervention” presented in the legal sciences section of the conference.

Since 2017 she has been a member of the editorial board of Open Journal for Legal Studies, and since 2018 a member of the editorial board of Zagreb Law Review. Since 2022 she has been a member of the editorial board of the Croatian Academy of Legal Sciences Yearbook.

She is a member of professional associations, namely the International Society of Family Law (2022 – present) and the Croatian Academy of Legal Sciences (2022 – present).

Between 2005 and 2009 she was a member of the working group for Chapter 7 of the negotiations for the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union.

In 2012 the Ministry of Justice appointed her, together with Prof. Alan Uzelac, to the working group for the drafting of the proposal of the Free Legal Aid Act. In addition, she was a member of the Free Legal Aid Commission of the Ministry of Justice between 2018 and 2021.

She is married and a mother of two children.