To combat its growing talcum powder problem, Johnson & Johnson has expanded its team of lawyers to fight a two-front battle.

On the heels of last month's $110 million jury verdict, jury selection began on Monday in the sixth talcum powder trial in Missouri. A separate trial is set to begin in Los Angeles in early July.


♦ READ MORE: J&J Begins Fight to Overturn Talc Losses


In Missouri, Johnson & Johnson is leaning on two attorneys, Debra Pole of Sidley Austin and James T. Smith at Blank Rome, in addition to longtime lead counsel Mark Hegarty of Shook, Hardy & Bacon.

They're facing off against Ted Meadows, principal at Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles in Montgomery, Alabama, and R. Allen Smith of The Smith Law Firm in Ridgeland, Mississippi—a plaintiffs' team that so far has secured jury verdicts in Missouri totaling roughly $300 million in cases alleging that prolonged use of its baby powder and Shower to Shower products caused women to get ovarian cancer.

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