Scale of legal fee
Laywers are bound by the regulation on legal counsel fees in certain cases (Rechtsanwalts-vergütungsgesetz). Fees increase depending on the value of the lawsuit, while time invested is only of minor importance. For cases tried at court these fees provide for the legally required minimum threshold. German Lawyers are prohibited to offer litigation for less then the regulation on legal counsel fees requires them to.
Fees according to this regulation are usually applied if the amount of work for the case can be reasonably estimated in advance.