Legal Counsel

Tanzi Cannon-Eckerle

Principal and Chief Counsel | Fractional General Counsel | Business Advisor

Tanzi Cannon-Eckerle is the Principal and Chief Counsel of General Counsel by Cannon, PLLC, where she provides fractional general counsel, labor and employment, human resources, compliance, workplace investigation, training, and business support services to employers. She works with small, mid-sized, and larger companies that want practical in-house legal thinking without the cost or commitment of a full-time general counsel.

With more than two decades of experience working inside businesses and in private practice serving businesses, Tanzi brings a practical, business-forward approach to legal strategy. She helps leadership teams evaluate risk, make informed decisions, and keep operations moving. Her work is grounded in the belief that legal support should not be a black-box expense or a last-minute emergency call; it should be a strategic business resource that protects the company, supports growth, and creates value over time.

As a fractional general counsel, Tanzi serves as a consistent legal partner for companies that need senior-level guidance but are not ready to add permanent legal headcount. She assists with contracts, employment matters, workplace policies, compliance, intellectual property concerns, business processes, risk management, and sensitive employee issues. Her goal is to help clients prevent small problems from becoming expensive disruptions while building practical systems that fit how the business actually operates.

Tanzi’s professional background spans labor and employment litigation, business law, compliance, labor relations, human resources, hospitality leadership, entrepreneurship, and operations. She is certified in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and incorporates that perspective into the legal and operational guidance she provides businesses. She is also a Certified Workplace Investigator and Business Manager, conducting employee complaint investigations, pre-trial investigations, OSHA investigations, administrative agency compliance investigations, business environment scans, and related workplace reviews.

In addition to her legal practice, Tanzi brings hands-on operational experience as a business owner and hospitality executive. She owns Brew Practitioners, a small brewery in Western Massachusetts, where she serves as General Manager and, in her words, the “on-again, off-again” assistant brewer. She grew up in the restaurant and hospitality industry and has worked in settings ranging from diners and breweries to fine dining, public golf, and country club operations.

Tanzi is also a serial entrepreneur, having started multiple businesses across several states, including a residential and commercial cleaning business in Indiana, a general practice law firm in North Carolina, a real estate firm and event venue in Illinois, and an event services company in Virginia while working in financial services marketing. That experience gives her a practical understanding of what business owners and executives need from counsel: clear judgment, usable advice, efficient processes, and solutions that account for both legal risk and business reality.

Tanzi has served as a director on several nonprofit boards, including the Hampshire Regional YMCA, Franklin County Community Development Corporation, and the Center for Human Development. She also served as a Commissioner on the City of Northampton’s Human Rights Commission and was appointed to Governor Baker’s Economic Development Committee Alcohol Task Force, which advised on the review of Massachusetts alcohol laws in 2016. In 2017, Tanzi was selected as a Massachusetts Top Women of Law honoree.

Tanzi earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a music minor from Indiana University and a Juris Doctor with a concentration in business law from Southern Illinois University. Clients can expect Tanzi to bring clear judgment, practical solutions, plain-spoken guidance, and a sense of humor to the table. Her approach is simple: legal support should help businesses make better decisions, reduce preventable risk, and move forward with confidence.