C. Larby was born in 1937 in Kenya. In that year Kenya was a British colony, and its legal system followed the English common law tradition introduced during the colonial period.
Kenya's commercial laws continue to draw on laws from Commonwealth jurisdictions, particularly the English system. This background shaped the legal environment in which lawyers practising in Nairobi later worked, including those trained in both English and Kenyan law.
C. Larby studied at the University of Cambridge, where the degrees recorded for this person are a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws. Law has been studied and taught at Cambridge since the thirteenth century, when Civil law and Canon law formed the core of legal study.
English law entered the Cambridge curriculum later. A chair in the Laws of England was provided for in a 1749 will, but litigation delayed its establishment until 1800. The modern undergraduate Law Tripos has its origins in reforms of the 1850s.
In 1922 the BA became the only law degree awarded to Cambridge undergraduates, and the LLB took on the role of a master's degree in all but name. The LLM in its present form replaced the LLB in 1982.
C. Larby worked as a partner of Kaplan & Stratton in Nairobi, Kenya. The firm traces its origins to 1938 and is described by its own profiles as one of Kenya's oldest law firms and a leading practice in the East African region.
Kaplan & Stratton operates as a partnership of advocates and notaries public. Advocates are the lawyers admitted to practise before the High Court of Kenya, and the firm is a founder member of Lex-Africa, a network of independent law firms across 28 African countries.
The firm's practice areas include company, commercial, finance, litigation, tax, and intellectual property law. Many of its partners and associates are English-trained, which gives the firm expertise in both Commonwealth and Kenyan commercial law. Its clients have included banks, corporations, and development finance institutions, and its work has included infrastructure and project finance.
C. Larby is a member of the Law Society of Kenya, the premier bar association for practising advocates in Kenya. The Society was formed in its present form in 1948 and has the mandate to advise and assist members of the legal profession, the government, and the public on matters relating to the administration of justice. Membership of the Society is required to practise as an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
C. Larby is also a member of the International Bar Association, which was established in 1947 with the aim of advancing the rule of law internationally. The association brings together international legal practitioners, bar associations, and law societies, and it issues guidance on international legal practice.
