E. Carlos Tanner, III, a former federal prosecutor, is the founder and principal of Tanner & Associates, LLC, a boutique law firm based in Jackson, Mississippi.  Carlos handles complex criminal and civil litigation matters in federal and state courts in Mississippi and other jurisdictions across the country.  Carlos has won civil trials for plaintiffs and defendants and secured favorable settlements for millions of dollars.  He has also successfully handled federal and state criminal cases, winning numerous not guilty verdicts and negotiating great outcomes for his clients accused of criminal offenses.

A former United States Department of Justice trial attorney, Carlos worked for years as an Assistant United States Attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi in Jackson.  As an AUSA, Carlos’ practice focused primarily on the investigation and prosecution of white-collar crimes, such as mail and wire fraud, healthcare fraud, and federal program fraud.  He also handled civil and criminal asset forfeiture cases to take ill-gotten assets from targets of federal investigations and cases and to have them returned to crime victims. 

Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Carlos completed a federal clerkship, working under the tutelage of then-Chief United States District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi Henry T. Wingate.  Based on the recommendations of lawyers in the Mississippi legal community, the publication Super Lawyers each year between 2015 and 2019 named Carlos a “Rising Star” for his work as a criminal defense attorney.  The readership of BOOM Jackson magazine for several years awarded Carlos the title of Jackson’s “Best Criminal Defense Attorney.” Carlos served pro bono as special counsel to the Mississippi Bar Association’s Character and Fitness Committee.  In addition, he proudly serves as a panel attorney of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi’s Criminal Justice Act (CJA) Panel. 

He taught during the Spring 2022 semester an upper-level course, Criminal Practice, at Mississippi College School of Law to teach practical information about prosecuting and defending criminal cases in federal and state courts.

Carlos graduated law school at The University of Texas at Austin School of Law where the faculty of the Advocacy Department awarded him the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award, an annual award given to the top trial advocate in each graduating class.  Carlos is also a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia where he majored in Finance and Spanish.  At Morehouse, Carlos was a member of Pi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.; he was selected for the Morehouse Business Department’s 2003 Spring Tour, a twenty-student group chosen to visit a foreign country to interact with international business and political leaders; and he studied abroad in Granada, Spain during the fall semester of his senior year.  Carlos is also a proud alumnus of Jim Hill High School, where he graduated in 1999, having been one of three students in his graduating class to be awarded an International Baccalaureate diploma.  Carlos now resides in the Jackson, Mississippi area with his wife, Dr. Erika Tanner, and their three children.