Search for New Physics in Heavy Quark Decays at LHCb

LHCb is an experiment designed to search for evidence of new physics effects through precise measurements of decays of $B$ and $D$ mesons. Already with the early data from the first LHC running it is possible to assess the performance of the detector and to understand better the potential of the LHCb flavour programme. Highlights of these early data are presented and the physics reach of LHCb in certain key CP-violation and rare decay measurements is discussed. Emphasis is given to those topics where results with particular sensitivity to new physics are expected during the present 2010–11 run.