Attorneys defending a personal injury case must strike a delicate balance between vigorously representing their client without coming across as cold and unsympathetic to a plaintiff’s condition. And in the latest episode of CVN’s Trial Technique Spotlight, Shane Read, one of the country’s preeminent trial presentation experts, analyzes how Allison Brown masterfully struck that balance in her opening statement at a talc trial against Johnson & Johnson, laying the groundwork for a defense verdict in the case.

A winning defense in talc trials often hinges on how well an attorney can counter plaintiff’s causation arguments. At trial over the ovarian cancer a woman claims was caused by Johnson & Johnson’s talc-based Baby Powder, Allison Brown’s strong closing cleared the company of liability where billions of dollars were on the line.