US telecoms giant Motorola is on the hunt for a new UK head of legal after Palwinder Hare announced that he is to leave the company.

Hare moved to Motorola in 1999 after qualifying at legacy firm Wilde Sapte and working in-house at GEC Alstom and BTR (now Invensys). He will be leaving at the end of the month but would not comment on his next career move.

A spokesperson for Motorola said that Hare's position had not yet been filled and that Maryann Clifford, head of ethics and compliance for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will take on the role in the interim.

Clifford will report to global general counsel Peter Lawson in Chicago.

Last year Motorola's legal team saw a senior departure when Asia-Pacific general counsel Jeffrey Tan defected to DLA Piper's Singapore arm to become the regional head of the firm's corporate and technology practice.

Motorola has more than 200 lawyers worldwide and annual revenues of almost $43bn (£22bn) company-wide.

Hare's move, meanwhile, comes as FTSE 100 telecoms group BT bolsters its global services division with the hire of former Equant legal head David Ross. Ross has been appointed as a commercial director under global service legal head Tim Cowan's team and will be part of a team of around 400 lawyers.