When Legal Week asks Haarmann Hemmelrath co-founder Wilhelm Haarmann why the firm he set up in 1987 ultimately collapsed, he replies: “It is a simple story.”

In some respects, Haarmanns’ cautionary tale is a straightforward one. The firm began with much promise and an entrepreneurial vision, before growing too fast in an apparent attempt to keep pace with the international giants that were increasingly coming to dominate Europe’s largest markets.