Prof. Toplak is a constitutional law professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Maribor, a professor at Alma Mater Europaea, and since 2019, a visiting professor at the Faculty of Law at Fordham University in New York. Between 2016 and 2022 he was head of the Public Law Department at the University of Maribor and a director of Alma Mater Europaea.

He is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, co-head of the research group on freedom of expression at the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL), and a member of the board of directors and former vice-chairman (2006–16) of the Committee for Research on Corruption and Political Financing at the International Political Science Association (IPSA).

In the announcement of his award, it is written:

Professor Jurij Toplak is considered Europe’s leading election law expert. His substantial contribution to developing European election law is nationally and internationally recognized. During his prosperous career he has worked with many international organizations, including the Council of Europe, GRECO, EU, OSCE, ODIHR, UNDP, and IDEA in Finland, France, Canada, the USA, Latvia, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Malta, Monaco, and Uganda. Expert missions in each these countries were of one, two, or three months’ duration. They led to improved legislation and legal systems in the mentioned countries, and the reform of electoral systems and procedures.

The world’s leading media have published Toplak’s expert opinions. Among his internationally outstanding achievements in election law is Political Finance and Corruption in Eastern Europe, a book which he co-edited with Daniel Smilov from the University of Sofia in 2008, with more than 90 foreign contributions.

His outstanding contribution is research into the Constitutional Court and the judiciary, the progress of courts, and the settlement of electoral disputes. He has repeatedly assisted disabled people and candidates to improve election procedures and the rights of disabled candidates and voters. Following his complaints, in 2014 the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia decided that all polling stations must be accessible to the disabled. He also assists people with intellectual disabilities who have been deprived of their constitutional rights by the authorities. He regularly cooperates with disability organizations in several countries.

In 2017 he wrote the first successful objection to the voting results in Slovenia. This led to the first public hearing at the Supreme Court in independent Slovenia, followed by the first annulment and re-run of voting. With judgments of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court in this and other procedures initiated by Prof. Toplak in the field of election law, the regulation of elections has significantly improved, making Slovenian elections consistent with international standards and the treatment of electoral disputes more advanced.

At the Faculty of Law of Fordham University in New York, he is the holder of an Election Law course and a mentor in the written work of numerous students. The subject also includes the findings of Slovenian legal science.

He has contributed immensely to the transparency of courts in Slovenia and abroad. Between 2019 and 2021, he achieved through numerous activities that the European Court of Human Rights provides access to files without the necessity for the applicant to visit the court building. In July 2020 he organized and led an international scientific conference in the form of an event that traveled around the earth by time zone. It was the first ever such event, and became the standard for large international conferences in the following months. It was attended by 52 leading researchers from the field of freedom of expression from 28 countries, including professors from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, along with Professor Mark Tushnet from Harvard Law School.

In July 2022 he co-edited the Handbook of Election Law (published by Routledge) along with Professor David Schultz from the University of Minnesota. It is considered the most thorough work on election law worldwide, and the first comparative work on election law in Europe. It contains chapters by 27 authors from six continents, who comprehensively discuss all areas of election law around the world in 370 pages. Particular attention should be paid to the chapter by Professor Pippa Norris from Harvard University, which ranks countries according to electoral integrity; a chapter by Ugo Ezeh from the University of Oxford, which is one of the first comparative works on electoral disputes in Africa; and a chapter by Prof. Toplak on the relative practices of European courts in electoral disputes. The book was also presented at Keble College, Oxford, and many domestic and international media reported about the publication.

Professor Toplak’s opinion was cited in the printed edition of the Financial Times, on how settling elections in the courts is useful and strengthens democracy. The handbook and the conclusions of the editors and contributing authors were also reported by Legal Futures in the United Kingdom (“Election law a growing area – and good for democracy, say experts”), The Legal Diary (“Democracy in the Dock in New Book”), Kenya’s The Star (“Expert view: Why courts are an essential part of the electoral process”), Kenyan Capital News (“How Kenya Election Petition Will Strengthen Future Polls”), Danish K-News (“Den nye norm er, at doing stolen godkender et values legitimate”), the STA press agency (“Toplak: Judicial decisions by which the courts confirm or annul the outcome of elections strengthen trust in a democracy”) and many others.

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