Rather than opening doors in Miami or Fort Lauderdale, New York midsize firm Cullen and Dykman is opting for a different approach for its first office in Florida. Palm Beach has seen substantial wealth arrive from the Northeast in recent years, and it's no longer a trend, but a permanent shift, according to firm managing partner Christopher H. Palmer. That's why the firm, which focuses on banking and financial services, opened a new office in the area Monday and is set on serving the corporate and high net worth clients that have established residency or secondary headquarters in Palm Beach. "Our goal is that the entire firm and all practice areas within our firm and all departments will identify growth opportunities," Palmer said. "We're starting to see that already: Demand is strong." Palmer said that the firm is launching with six attorneys who are Florida admitted. The firm's website currently lists four lawyers attached to the Palm Beach office. Partners Saara J. Pekale, Konstantine G. Traganas and associate Brittany L. Froning are also attached to the firm's Long Island office, while partner Leon Sokol is also attached to the Hackensack, New Jersey office. Palmer added that the firm is looking for lateral opportunities for growth in South Florida. The firm, which was founded in 1850 and is the fourth oldest law firm in New York, had 185 lawyers nationwide in 2024, according to ALM data. The new office is the firm's eighth nationwide and first outside of the mid-Atlantic region. Cullen and Dykman joins a growing number of Am Law 200 and midsize firms that have followed the money to South Florida in recent years. Am Law 50 firms have largely targeted Miami, with prominent examples including Winston & Strawn, Cooley, Kirkland & Ellis, Sidley Austin and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. Many firms in the Second Hundred, meanwhile have looked to Fort Lauderdale, including Freeman Mathis Gary, Offit Kurman and Hinckley Allen & Snyder. Cullen and Dykman—alongside Am Law 100 firm Taft Stettinus & Holister, which signed a 10-year lease in West Palm Beach just five months after first entering Florida via a merger with Mrachek Law—are outliers in Palm Beach County. "By opening the office in Palm Beach, we're really following our client's capital and servicing them," Palmer said.