Germany has a lawyer problem

Dec 11th 2025|5 min read

Most of Germany’s famous firms, including AEG, Deutsche Bank and Mercedes-Benz, were established in the late 19th century. The time is known as the Gründerzeit, or founding period, referring not just to the proclamation of the German empire in 1871, but also to the hundreds of companies that set up shop. Less well-known is that in the same era Germany’s peculiar—and peculiarly dominant—bureaucracy took shape. It is top-down, formalistic and lawyerly. And it is causing problems.