RIM Losing Chief Legal Officer, Karima Bawa Submits Resignation

Research In Motion (RIM) lost its chief legal officer on Sunday after Karima Bawa submitted their resignation to the BlackBerry smartphone maker. Bawa is yet another in a string of officials how have left RIM since the beginning of 2012.

Bawa who was promoted to chief legal officer at Research In Motion in late 2010 has agreed to remain at the tech firm until a replacement is in place.

Bawa had been speaking with company officials about her plans for retirement. During his time with the company Bawa was responsible for litigating almost all of RIM’s patent disputes, including the company’s biggest dispute against Motorola in 2010 and the December 2011 Apple-Kodak-RIM patent dispute.

When not fighting against patents Bawa helped write most of the company’s commercial deals.

Bawa’s exit comes just one week after global head of sales Patrick Spence left the company. Also gone in 2012 is former co-CEO Jim Balsillie, Senior vice president Allan Brenner, and BBM VP Tenille Kennedy.

Earlier today we reported that Research In Motion is planning to layoff 2,000 more workers which will take the company’s global workforce to just under 15,000 workers. Those firings could begin as early as June and will likely reach all divisions of RIM and reports suggest several high-level executives could be fired when those layoffs begin.

In an attempt to turn around the company’s sales figures RIM will release new Blackberry devices in 2012 alongside a bran new version of the Blackberry OS.

Do you think Blackberry devices can regain their early days luster?