Franziska von Karma was born and raised in Germany by her father Manfred von Karma. When she was two years old, her father took in an orphaned Miles Edgeworth, with whom she shared a sibling bond. However, Edgeworth tended to do his own thing, frequently leaving Franziska behind. During her years at elementary school, Franziska would always wind up going to her previous year's classroom.
Feeling overwhelming pressure from her father's reputation as a so-called "perfect" prosecutor, Franziska started her legal studies in Germany at a very young age, and by the age of 13, she was set to pass the bar exam. She took a vacation to America with her father to watch Edgeworth prosecute his first case, but the trial was canceled when the defendant and a prosecutor were found dead in a defendant lobby.