Simon Sidamon-Eristoff is of Counsel to Kalbian Hagerty LLP. He specializes in the representation of tax-exempt organizations.
Mr. Sidamon-Eristoff counsels nonprofit organizations on all aspects of doing business as a charity and maintaining exempt status. A nationally recognized expert in the land conservation field, he also provides advice to landowners and government agencies in connection with complex conservation real estate transactions.
Mr. Sidamon-Eristoff served as General Counsel to American Farmland Trust for twelve years, and continues to serve as AFT’s Senior Counsel. His experience also includes stints as an in-house counsel at two other national nonprofit organizations, the Trust for Public Land and the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.
As General Counsel to American Farmland Trust, Mr. Sidamon-Eristoff was responsible for all of the organization’s legal affairs, including land conservation transactions, tax and estate planning matters, legislative analysis, employment law matters, litigation, and nonprofit corporate governance.
As Conservancy Counsel at the Rails to Trails Conservancy, Mr. Sidamon-Eristoff initiated a highly successful land preservation program focused on the acquisition of out-of service railway corridors. Under his direction, this program preserved more than 900 miles of out-of-service rail corridor for use as public trails in eighteen transactions over four years.
As Regional Counsel at the Trust for Public Land, Mr. Sidamon-Eristoff was responsible for legal matters throughout a twenty-state region, including land preservation transactions, tax planning, subdivisions, financing, litigation, leasing, and nonprofit corporate matters. He also directed the Trust’s New York state program for a year.
After graduating from Princeton University and Columbia Law School, Mr. Sidamon-Eristoff began his career at the New York law firms of Lord Day & Lord and Coudert Brothers, specializing in real estate matters. He served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Energy for energy conservation and renewable energy in the first Bush administration.
Mr. Sidamon-Eristoff formerly chaired and currently serves on the boards of Oceana and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. He chairs the board of American Friends of Georgia.
