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RIM loses another senior executive

The struggling handset maker's chief legal officer resigns, marking its second high-level departure in a week.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
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Steven Musil
Research In Motion

Research In Motion announced today the resignation of its chief legal officer, the second high-level departure from the struggling phone maker in the past week.

Karima Bawa is leaving the handset maker after 12 years, RIM said. The company said it's known of Bawa's departure for some time and has already begun searching for a replacement chief legal officer.

"Karima has been a tireless advocate for RIM's business during more than a decade of hyper growth, and she continues to actively support our business in her chief legal officer role on a daily basis," RIM Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said in a statement. "I am deeply grateful for her many years of leadership and commitment."

The company lost its London-based head of global sales last week. Patrick Spence had been with RIM for 14 years but had only been in his current position as SVP and managing director of global sales and regional marketing for the last 10 months.

The company has been struggling to bring back lost market share and sales for its once popular BlackBerry devices, but it's not having much luck in an industry ruled by Apple and Android. Fourth-quarter reports show a company loss of $125 million and a 25 percent drop in revenue.