Prisca Matimba Nyambe was born on December 31, 1951, in Zambia. She obtained her Law degree from the University of Zambia in 1975 and was admitted as an advocate of the High Courts and Supreme Courts of Zambia and Zimbabwe in 1978 and 1982 respectively. Prisca was appointed as a Resident Magistrate in Kabwe, Zambia in 1978 and continued in this capacity until she was appointed Senior Magistrate in Harare and Gwelo, Zimbabwe. Four years after, she became Legal Counsel to the Central Bank of Zambia and transitioned to private legal practice from 1992 to 1996.

Prisca Nyambe joined the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in 1996 as Senior Legal Officer of the Chief Court Management Section for four years. She then became the Chief of the General Legal Services Section from 2000 to 2002 and General Counsel to the ICTR between 2002 and 2006. Nyambe was elected Judge ad litem of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2005, where she sat on the trial of Zdravko Tolimir, a wartime Bosnian Serb general convicted of genocide, giving the sole dissenting opinion.

In 2006, she was further appointed as a judge of the High Court of Zambia and served in this position until her retirement in 2015. Her wealth of knowledge and experience led to her election as judge of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) in 2011. Justice Nyambe has previously had special assignments and appointments in both local and international spheres. Notable amongst them are; member of Parliamentary Fact-finding Committee of Legal Experts appointed to report on discriminatory laws against women in government and state-owned enterprises in Zambia (1989), Commissioner of the Elections Commission of Zambia (1992), Human Rights expert/International observer under the International Commission of Jurists (1993-1995), Collaborator on a Direct Contact Mission to the Republic of Ethiopia on behalf of the International Labour Organization (2008) and chairperson of the group on the Establishment of Divisions of the High Court of Zambia (2004). Judge Nyambe was honored with the rank and dignity of State Counsel by the President of Zambia in 2005.