A week after Rev. Al Sharpton took aim at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in decrying a lack of diversity in the Delaware legal system, Skadden defended its record Monday, welcoming a conversation on the topic but accusing a pro-business advocacy group of co-opting the issue for its own gain.

In a strongly worded Dec. 30 letter to Skadden executive partner Eric Friedman, Sharpton chastised the law firm for having few minorities in its Wilmington office and lamented the overall lack of racial diversity in the state’s legal industry. The reverend also announced that he planned to commission a study to better understand how “diverse perspectives are represented in one of the state’s most prominent and lucrative industries.”