With England’s World Cup flop fresh in the nation’s collective memory, it was recently the turn of the business community to try to rescue the country’s ailing sporting reputation.

And it was a team of lawyers from Nabarro Nathanson who managed to put the pride back into UK sport, taking 18 medals at the 2006 World Corporate Games in Hungary. The lawyers came joint fifth alongside Vodafone UK. Other British successes included HBOS, which came first in badminton with 90 points, and Nationwide Building Society, which won the running tournament with 72 points.

Other British participants included corporate advisers DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary and CMS Cameron McKenna, along with companies such as British Airways and Dorothy Perkins.

Billed as the ultimate mix of sport, business and tourism, the Games was held in Budapest in July. Eighty teams took part in the tournament – which aims to promote business networking and corporate responsibility – and 22 different sporting events were held.