Why did Karl vom Stein choose Prussian civil service instead of imperial service?

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Karl, Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein Karl, Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein, portrait by Friedrich Olivier, 1820.

After studying the legal procedures of the institutional organs of the Holy Roman Empire—specifically the Imperial Chamber at Wetzlar, the Imperial Court Council in Vienna, and the Reichstag at Regensburg—Karl vom Stein decided against joining the imperial service. Instead, he chose to enter the Prussian civil administration in 1780, a move facilitated by his friendship with the Prussian minister of mines, Friedrich Anton von Heinitz.1

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