Chief legal officer Bawa the latest RIM departure
updated 05:38 pm EDT, Mon May 28, 2012
Planned retirement, remaining at RIM until replacement found
Research in Motion's (RIM) top lawyer has submitted her resignation. Karima Bawa will depart the beleaguered BlackBerry maker, joining many long-standing company officials who have left since the beginning of this year. Bawa joined RIM in 2000, and was promoted to general counsel and chief legal officer in late 2010. She will remain at RIM until a replacement is in place.
Bawa has been in discussions with the company about her retirement plans. While chief legal officer, she litigated nearly all of RIM's patent disputes, including the high-profile Motorola sales injunction in 2010 and the Apple-Kodak-RIM patent dispute that began in December 2011. She also helped write most of the falling giant's commercial deals.
The announcement comes just a week after RIM's global head of sales Patrick Spence departed the company. Former co-CEO Jim Balsillie resigned from RIM's board of directors after dismal fourth quarter results. Senior vice president Allan Brenner is on the way out, and VP for BBM service Tenille Kennedy has already departed. Another 2,000 layoffs are rumored to occur in the coming months.
