Primus ditches in-house legal function

Primus Telecommunications’ European general counsel Ashraf Mohammed is the latest victim of in-house pruning, leaving the company with no legal function.

Mohammed joined the company three and a half years ago from key external adviser Campbell Hooper and leaves amicably after completing a major restructuring of the company.

“Primus don’t need a European general counsel,” Mohammed told The Lawyer.

Mohammed originally joined the company to advise on M&A, but as this area declined, his role evolved into a more traditional general counsel one.

As with many telecoms companies, the past few years have involved restructuring the company, retiring debt and a redundancy programme. Now that process has come to an end, there is little for Mohammed to do.

The Lawyer understands that while he has yet to find a new job, he may continue to work for the company as a consultant.

In addition to Campbell Hooper, Primus uses Clifford Chance for complex cross-border M&A.