Jim Buda is vice president of the Legal Services Division at Caterpillar Inc. in Peoria, Illinois. He is also general counsel and secretary of Caterpillar Inc. He joined Caterpillar in 1987 as an attorney in the legal department. He has served in a number of senior corporate attorney positions, and was named associate general counsel in 1996. In 1999, Buda assumed the position of associate general counsel for the Legal Services Division in the United Kingdom legal office. He has held his current position since 2001. Buda is a member of the American Bar Association, American Corporate Counsel Association, American Society of Corporate Secretaries, American Trial Lawyers Association, Association of General Counsels, Civil Justice Reform Group, Corporate Executive Board - General Counsel Roundtable, Defense Research Institute, Federation of Corporate and Insurance Counsel, Illinois and Indiana State Bar Associations, International Association of Defense Counsel, Product Liability Advisory Council, Trial Attorneys of America, Who's Who in American Law and the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation Board.