University of Nairobi. Photo: Rotsee2, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nairobi_universitet.jpg)
University of Nairobi. Photo: Rotsee2, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nairobi_universitet.jpg)
Fred N. Ojiambo was born in 1950 in Kenya, which was then a British colony. His birth came in the early years of the country's transition to independence, which was completed in 1963.
His secondary and advanced-level education took place in Nairobi, the capital where he later built his legal career.
He attended Pumwani Secondary School in Nairobi for his secondary studies and then Strathmore College for his advanced-level education.
He then earned a Bachelor of Laws with honours from the University of Nairobi, where his classmates included James Orengo. The university's origins lie in the Royal Technical College of East Africa, established in 1956, and it became an independent University of Nairobi by Act of Parliament in 1970. Its law teaching had developed during the 1960s from a department within the Faculty of Commerce into a full law faculty by 1970.
After university he completed the Bar Qualifying Examinations at the Kenya School of Law, the institution where candidates for admission as advocates in Kenya undertake professional training. He was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya in 1975.
Ojiambo qualified as a Kenyan advocate and joined Kaplan & Stratton in 1974. The firm traces its origins to 1938 and describes itself as one of Kenya's oldest law firms; it is also a founder member of Lex-Africa, a network of independent law firms spanning 28 African countries. He joined the partnership in 1981 and became senior partner in 1994.
His practice centres on civil litigation, with particular experience in banking, insurance and medical negligence matters. He regularly appears before the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and specialised tribunals, and he has handled commercial arbitration, including construction disputes. He is described as heading the firm's dispute resolution practice.
Among his best-known matters, he represented the Communication Authority of Kenya in the Supreme Court over the roll-out of the digital migration framework, the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. He also served as counsel in the Goldenberg Inquiry, which investigated one of Kenya's largest financial scandals.
He has held the designation of Senior Counsel since 2001. He is reported to have chaired the Senior Counsel Bar from 2013 until 2025, and he serves as Chancellor of Kirinyaga University. His directorships include Stanbic Bank, Bata Shoe Company and Solio Ranch. In 2026 he was included in The Lawyer Africa's ranking of Kenya's top litigation lawyers.
Represented the Communication Authority of Kenya before the Supreme Court in a dispute over the roll-out of the digital migration framework, a matter with wide implications for civilian and non-civilian communications in Kenya.
Represented a multilateral organisation in the Court of Appeal in a precedent-setting case that clarified the immunity of international organisations.
Served as lead counsel in Republic v Cholmondeley, a high-profile murder prosecution in Kenya that attracted local and international attention.
Ojiambo chaired the Law Society of Kenya from 1988 to 1991, a period that a Kenya Times profile associates with the country's transition from one-party rule to multiparty democracy. The Society was formed in its present form in 1948 to promote the rule of law and an independent legal profession, and its membership comprises all practising advocates in Kenya.
He also chaired the Senior Counsel Bar, the body of Kenyan advocates who hold the Senior Counsel rank, in which he has been a leading figure.
