Sean “Diddy” Combs has added to his team of high-powered lawyers a Black woman attorney — who in 2008 sued a well-known member of the hip-hop community after surviving a sexual assault — as the rap mogul braces for his New York trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges to begin in earnest next week.

Nicole Westmoreland, who runs her own firm, joined the rap mogul’s defense team this week with a notice of attorney’s appearance landing on the case docket Monday as jury selection was underway at the Southern District of New York court. Westmoreland is the second recent addition of a Black attorney after last week saw Xavier R. Donaldson joining the defense.

It’s notable since Combs’ case involves accusations and video evidence of the defendant abusing women; with Westmoreland, the embattled rap and fashion mogul has also added an outspoken survivor of a sexual assault that involved...