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, Delaware, 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."

Skadden countered Monday that it was founded on values of diversity and inclusion. "We agree with civil rights advocates that diversity on the bench and throughout the legal profession should be a priority in Delaware and globally, and we are proud that the first two female justices on the Delaware Supreme Court were attorneys at Skadden," Wilmington office leader Robert Saunders wrote in a letter to Sharpton.