By his own admission, Tony Woodburn underachieved at Fairfield Grammar School, preferring the rugby field to the classroom.

After Fairfield, Mr Woodburn went to Sandwell Technical College and academic abilities started to shine. His next stop was the former Bristol Polytechnic, where he qualified as a lawyer.

His life could have gone down a very different route, but sitting in his offices at Henriques Griffiths Solicitors in Portland Square, St Paul's, Mr Woodburn looks back on a successful career which culminated in him becoming president of the Bristol Law Society.

Mr Woodburn now represents the interests of 1,200 lawyers in Bristol both at home and abroad, as the figurehead and leading light of the oldest law society in the UK, which was founded in 1770 when Mr Woodburn's home of Downend was still a secluded village.

"It is an absolute honour to be chosen as the representative of Bristol lawyers," said Mr Woodburn, 52, who lives with his wife Anita and has two adult children, James and Karina, who are both at university.

Mr Woodburn has worked hard to be in the position he finds himself in today, and although he had the chance to move away from Bristol, he never has.

Montpelier was Mr Woodburn's boyhood home, and he lived there with his haulage driver father and nurse mother, who arrived in Bristol in the early Fifties from Jamaica among one of the first waves of immigrants.

"My parents lived in the countryside in Jamaica. It always strikes me as something quite incredible that two people in their early 20s could travel halfway around the world and set up from nothing after leaving their family and friends. I'm still astonished by it now, but that's what they did."

Mr Woodburn may be the first black president in the 238-year history of the Bristol Law Society, but he refuses to be categorised by his colour, although proud of his Jamaican heritage.

"I honestly don't believe that the colour of my skin is an issue. I am obviously proud of who I am, but I would like to think that I would have been chosen regardless of the colour of my skin."

He added: "We have had big flare-ups, but one of the things that I love about Bristol is that people have prevailed, black people have prevailed. I remember Jim Williams, the first black Lord Mayor. That was a huge honour. Bristol has shown that black people and other minorities can achieve.

"My mother and father did not have an appreciation of the route that I wanted to take into law, it's not something that they would have chosen for me, but they were both behind me 100 per cent. There were other centres around England that I could have gone have studied at, but I chose to remain in Bristol and I'm really glad that I did.

"I have had always had really strong ties to Bristol. I love it here. Apart from it being home, the city has also made me what I am today."

Mr Woodburn has worked for Henriques Griffiths since 1984. He began work doing family law, criminal defence, employment law and general litigation, but now concentrates on commercial litigation (which involves the resolution of disputes arising in the corporate and commercial sectors) and disputes about estates after someone has died.

Mr Woodburn has been assistant deputy coroner for Avon since 1992, presiding over inquests and establishing the cause of deaths.

His interest in the commercial sector came from when he helped his father with invoices for his blossoming haulage business, which he set up after buying a lorry having worked at the docks in Avonmouth for many years.

Mr Woodburn said: "I would see how he did his work and who he did his work for. I could also see what he earned, when he was being paid and when he was not being paid.

"The law attracted me because of the issues and the rights and wrongs around contracts. It was absolutely fascinating."

Next year, Mr Woodburn will be spending a lot of time on his role as president of the Bristol Law Society, but he says he will always put his work at Henriques Griffiths first "because that pays the bills".

Outside the law, he will continue to fuel his passion for rugby by supporting Bristol at the Memorial Ground and watching his nephew play for Gloucestershire Schoolboys. He also hopes to do more travelling, law and rugby permitting.