Philadelphia · October 13-14, 2026

14 sessions.
40 provisions.Two days of learning real-world contracting.

Two days of practical training on the commercial contract language you negotiate all the time. In our 10 main sessions, an expert speaker explains how to review the provision, then you apply that training by redlining a provision with the others at your table. Then the speaker walks through the room to discuss and provide actionable feedback on different edits.

  • October 13-14, 20268:30 am to 5 pm
  • Downtown Philadelphia30 S. 17th Street near Rittenhouse Square
  • 10 CLE hourspending, 49 states
  • Drafting in every main sessionplus group problem-solving

Cannot travel? Join our virtual program on October 21-22, 2026. See how it compares.

Past attendees from companies like

  • Indeed
  • Amazon
  • Meta
  • Chevron
  • EY
  • Figma
  • Mercedes-Benz
  • Salesforce

The 2026 Case

Death of a Contract: A commercial deal gone terribly, mysteriously wrong.

The training is the point. This is how it is delivered. The main 10 sessions are wrapped inside a single case: a commercial deal that went badly wrong. The lead detective is Laura Frederick, Founder and CEO of How to Contract. She will run the investigations, the speakers teach in character, and each provision you work is one your table has to clear. By the end of day two, you will have sharpened your drafting skills and find out who killed the contract.

A ContractsCon speaker in a top hat leaning over a table, talking a group through contract language.

Real provisions, under the microscope

Forty provisions go on trial across the two days, all of them clauses you negotiate all the time.

A speaker on stage in a blue wizard robe presenting a session slide.

Sophisticated training, ridiculous characters

Expert speakers stay in character while teaching the substance. The training is serious; the costumes are not.

Attendees at a table with laptops open, drafting during a table-group exercise.

Table-by-table investigation

You are deputized into a small group to draft the language, argue it, and clear each provision alongside your peers.

A speaker dressed as Cleopatra standing in front of the ContractsCon backdrop.

A verdict at the finale

Laura closes the case and names the drafting failures that did the deal in.

The Program

14 sessions. 40 provisions. No fluff.

Practical, to-the-point training on the commercial contract issues you face all the time. On the first day, we will walk through the five most critical topics and 20 provisions in an AI product contract. On the second day, we will focus on complex customization and integration services under an MSA.

Ten main training sessions, plus four group training projects across the two days, for 14 sessions in total.

Day one · Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Drafting AI Product Agreements

Day one puts an AI platform deal on the table and walks through the provisions that decide whether your client wins or loses when something goes wrong. Five speakers will explain the nuances, then you will apply what you learned in a drafting exercise with feedback from the speaker on some proposed edits.

  1. 01

    Your customer's data just became training fuel for someone else's model. We unpack the consent, scoping, and usage-restriction language that decides whether the AI provider can learn from your data, share it, or quietly pass it downstream. You'll leave with the exact phrasing to lock the door without killing the deal.

    Laura Belmont · General Counsel, The Suite

  2. 02

    Who owns the output? Who owns the fine-tune? And who gets sued when the model spits out something that looks suspiciously like a competitor's IP? We walk through ownership, license-back, and reuse provisions for AI output and customer-specific customizations, so you can tell exactly what your client is buying.

    Matt Kohel · Partner, Saul Ewing

  3. 03

    Modern AI deals route your data through sub-processors, inference partners, and storage layers you've never heard of. We map the architecture the contract is silently authorizing and translate it into the data-flow, sub-processor, and cross-border transfer language your security team will actually approve.

    Annmarie Giblin · Deputy General Counsel, Cloaked

  4. 04

    When something goes wrong at 2 am, the contract is the playbook. We compare strong and weak breach-notification, cooperation, and remediation clauses, and rebuild them so notice windows, forensics, and cost allocation are not left to goodwill. Bring your worst breach-clause war story.

    Shannon Yavorsky · Partner, Orrick

  5. 05

    Agentic AI takes actions, sends emails, and moves money on your behalf, which means your contract has to scope authority, supervision, and liability for an actor that never reads the contract it is acting under. We draft the guardrails, audit rights, and human-in-the-loop requirements that keep an agent from going rogue on your dime.

    Olga Mack · CEO, TermScout

Day two · Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Customization and Integration Services Under an MSA

Day two works through the provisions that decide how a complex customization and integration project holds together, and how it comes apart. Five speakers will explain the nuances, then you will apply what you learned in a drafting exercise with feedback from the speaker on some proposed edits.

  1. 06

    The project slips, and suddenly nobody agrees on who was supposed to do what by when. We work through the governance language that keeps a customization project accountable: named project leads, milestone and acceptance mechanics, change-order procedure, dependency and delay allocation, and the escalation path you use before anyone reaches for a termination letter.

    Krista Lynn · Head of Legal Supply Chain, Airbus Space and Defense

  2. 07

    Integration work puts each side deep inside the other's systems, and confidentiality drafted for a simple vendor relationship stops holding. We redraw the boundaries: what counts as confidential once it is embedded in a joint build, how residuals and know-how carve-outs actually operate, who the permitted recipients are, and what survives the engagement.

    Adrienne Valencia Garcia · Deputy General Counsel, Somos

  3. 08

    Getting out of a half-finished integration is where weak contracts cost real money. We draft the exit provisions that let your client leave: termination triggers and cure rights, wind-down and transition assistance at a known price, data return and deletion in a usable format, and what happens to work in progress, prepaid fees, and the license to keep running.

    Kay Lee · VP Legal, Curology

  4. 09

    When two systems are wired together, the harm rarely traces to one party cleanly. We work through indemnity language built for shared fault: how intellectual property, data, and third-party claims get allocated across a joint build, how contribution and comparative fault are handled, and how defense control, notice, and settlement consent should be written.

    Laurie Ehrlich · VP Legal Product Management, Icertis

  5. 10

    A cap, an exclusion, and an exclusive-remedy clause can quietly leave your client with nothing to collect. We take apart the limitation stack: how the cap interacts with carve-outs and indemnities, which damages the exclusion really removes, how super-caps and multipliers are negotiated, and how to keep the remedy you bargained for from being read away.

    Jonathan Perkel · CLO, Esusu

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The Speakers

10 Speakers. One detective. One contract mystery to solve.

Each speaker will teach you the most important things to know about those provisions. They will explore what the language has to do, where it fails, and how to fix it. They lead the drafting exercise, then work the problem with the tables. They do it in character, because that is how this event runs.

Laura Frederick, founder of How to Contract, in a detective portrait with mustache and monocle overlay.

Lead Detective · Your Host

Laura Frederick

Founder, How to Contract

Laura deputizes the room on day one, runs the case through both days, and reveals at the end who and what killed the contract. She has spent her career inside complex commercial deals and built How to Contract to teach what lawyers and contract teams need to know to protect their companies and clients.

The line-up. Hover or tap a speaker to see the session they lead.

  • Laura Belmont, detective portrait with mustache and monocle overlay.
    Laura BelmontGeneral Counsel · The Suite

    Day 1 · Session 1

    Customer Data Use

    The Case of the Open Door

  • Matt Kohel, detective portrait with mustache and monocle overlay.
    Matt KohelPartner · Saul Ewing

    Day 1 · Session 2

    Rights to Output & Customization

    The Case of the Unclear Uses

  • Annmarie Giblin, detective portrait with mustache and monocle overlay.
    Annmarie GiblinDeputy General Counsel · Cloaked

    Day 1 · Session 3

    Data Flow Architecture

    The Case of the Invisible Network

  • Shannon Yavorsky, detective portrait with mustache and monocle overlay.
    Shannon YavorskyPartner · Orrick

    Day 1 · Session 4

    Data Breach

    The Case of the Missing Protocol

  • Olga Mack, detective portrait with mustache and monocle overlay.
    Olga MackCEO · TermScout

    Day 1 · Session 5

    AI Agents

    The Case of the Autonomous Actor

  • Krista Lynn, detective portrait with mustache and monocle overlay.
    Krista LynnHead of Legal Supply Chain · Airbus Space and Defense

    Day 2 · Session 6

    Project Management

    The Case of the Shifting Blame

  • Adrienne Valencia Garcia, detective portrait with mustache and monocle overlay.
    Adrienne Valencia GarciaDeputy General Counsel · Somos

    Day 2 · Session 7

    Confidentiality

    The Case of the Bleeding Boundaries

  • Kay Lee, detective portrait with mustache and monocle overlay.
    Kay LeeVP, Legal · Curology

    Day 2 · Session 8

    Termination & Exit

    The Case of the Hostage Data and Costly Escape

  • Laurie Ehrlich, detective portrait with mustache and monocle overlay.
    Laurie EhrlichVP Legal Product Management · Icertis

    Day 2 · Session 9

    Indemnification

    The Case of the Tangled Systems

  • Jonathan Perkel, detective portrait with mustache and monocle overlay.
    Jonathan PerkelCLO · Esusu

    Day 2 · Session 10

    Liability Limits

    The Case of the Disappearing Remedies

CLE credit

Earn CLE credit while you negotiate.

We pursue accreditation in 49 U.S. states (excluding Hawaii) plus every Canadian province that requires CPD. Some jurisdictions credit via self-study, attorney application, or reciprocity.

CLE & CPD credit
Pursuing accreditation in 49 U.S. states (excluding Hawaii) and every Canadian province requiring CPD.
Hours offered
Up to 10 hours in person and 7 hours virtual, depending on how your jurisdiction counts.

Champion Sponsors

Backed by Ivo and Spellbook.

Two contract AI companies support ContractsCon 2026 as our Champion Sponsors.

Want to put your company in front of the room? Ask us about sponsoring ContractsCon 2026

Two ways to attend

You can be in the room or watching it. Your choice.

Comparison of the in-person and virtual ContractsCon 2026 programs
Recommended In person · Philadelphia October 13-14, 2026 Virtual October 21-22, 2026
Drafting exercises10 small group drafting exercises with speaker feedback10 drafting exercises to do during the session
CLE / CPD hours (pending)Up to 10Up to 7
Make new friendsIn person, two daysChat and Q&A
Recordings180 days180 days
Included bonuses AI Contracts Drafting Guide plus the $595 Indemnification Mastery courseBoth if ticketed by September 8None
Price through September 8$1,495$395
Save my in-person seat Get my virtual ticket

The Verdict

Everyone who attends agrees. There’s no training experience like it.

Hear it straight from past attendees.

Jason RiosLegal @ Harvey
Scott SchaareContract Manager at Xymogen

Early-bird pricing

Lock in the best price.

In-person pricing rises twice before the doors open. The seat costs less today than it will at any point from here.

  1. Early rate

    through September 8, 2026

    $1,495

    Current price

  2. Standard

    September 9 to 29, 2026

    $1,695

    Next

  3. Last Call

    September 30 onward

    $1,895

    Final

The event

In Person · Philadelphia

October 13-14, 2026 · 8:30 am to 5 pm

$1,495 $1,895 at Last Call

  • Fourteen sessions across two full days, covering forty provisions
  • 10 small group drafting exercises with speaker feedback
  • Meals, snacks, and networking receptions
  • 10 hours of CLE credit (pending) in 49 states
  • 180 days of access to virtual program recordings
Save my in-person seat

Reduced virtual rates

  • $295

    Nonprofit, government, and academic

    The full virtual program, up to 7 hours of CLE and CPD credit (pending), and 180 days of recordings.

  • $195

    Student

    The full virtual program and 180 days of recordings. No CLE credit.

These rates are for the virtual program only and are on sale now. Register with your employer or university email address. Full eligibility is in the FAQ.

Get a reduced-rate ticket

Free Bonuses for In-Person Attendees

Two training bonuses, yours when you purchase an in‑person ticket by September 8.

Active now

Until September 8

Seat at $1,495, plus both bonuses.

    Next

    Starting September 9

    Seat at $1,695, guide only.

      Save my seat

      Both bonuses are for in-person attendees only and are not available with the virtual ticket.

      The ContractsCon Happiness Guarantee badge.

      Our Happiness Guarantee

      Get your ticket price back if you are not satisfied.

      We offer a Happiness Guarantee on all virtual and in-person tickets. Attend the ten core training sessions live, and if you are dissatisfied with the quality of the training, we’ll refund your ticket price no questions asked.

      The request must come from the ticket holder’s registered email to both laura@howtocontract.com and support@howtocontract.com with the subject line “ContractsCon Ticket Refund Request,” no later than 5 pm Friday, October 16, 2026 for the in-person program or Sunday, October 25, 2026 for virtual.

      No proxy submissions. Each person sends their own request.

      We will not refund requests received after that window, requests unrelated to the quality of the training such as an accidental purchase or an inability to attend, or where our records show the ticket holder viewed less than 60 percent of total session time.

      Groups

      Bring your whole team.

      Table groups are the training. A team that works the case together comes home with the same playbook, the same language, and the same redlines. One decision, one approval, one conversation with finance.

      • $1,295 per seat

        Team of three or more from one company.

      • $1,295 alumni rate

        If you have attended a ContractsCon before, your seat is $1,295 through September 8, below the early rate. Email support@howtocontract.com from the address you registered with last time.

      Email us about group seats

      Need to convince your boss?

      Most people attend with company-purchased tickets.

      We wrote the approval email for you. Fill in the blanks and send.

      • Short version. Three sentences for a manager who already trusts you.
      • Long version. The full business case.
      • One-page summary. The attachment for a budget meeting.

      Get the editable boss letter

      Your Training Destination

      Downtown Philadelphia.

      ContractsCon 2026 is happening in Philadelphia, home of the Liberty Bell, cheesesteaks, and every Rocky Balboa souvenir you can imagine.

      Venue
      30 South 17th Street
      Philadelphia, PA 19103
      Hours
      Each day runs 8:30 am to 5 pm.
      The Philadelphia skyline at dusk, seen across Center City.

      Where to Stay

      Featured hotels near the venue.

      We have secured discounted rates at these and other nearby hotels. Book through the hotel map to lock in attendee pricing.

      • Exterior of the Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square hotel.

        5-minute walk

        Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square

        Full-service hotel a block off Rittenhouse Square with spacious rooms, an on-site restaurant, and skyline views of Center City.

        Book on the hotel map
      • The Westin Philadelphia, a modern high-rise hotel in Center City.

        2-minute walk

        The Westin Philadelphia

        Modern high-rise connected to Liberty Place with signature Heavenly Beds, a 24-hour fitness studio, and an easy stroll to the venue.

        Book on the hotel map
      • A guest room at Motto by Hilton Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square.

        6-minute walk

        Motto by Hilton Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square

        Brand-new lifestyle hotel with playful design, micro-luxury rooms, and a lively lobby bar steps from Philly's best dining.

        Book on the hotel map

      See the discounted rates on the hotel map

      Powered by Whova

      Your event, in your pocket.

      Every attendee gets the Whova event app to browse the agenda, message speakers and peers, join topic boards, and keep the case-cracking going long after the closing remarks.

      • Live agenda, speaker bios, and session materials
      • Attendee directory and 1:1 messaging
      • Community boards for questions, meet-ups, and recommendations
      A screenshot of the Whova community board showing ContractsCon attendee discussion threads.

      The Fine Print

      ContractsCon 2026 FAQs.

      Event

      The in-person program runs Tuesday October 13 and Wednesday October 14, 2026, each day 8:30 am to 5 pm, in Philadelphia. The virtual program runs Wednesday October 21 and Thursday October 22, 2026, 12 to 4:30 pm ET.

      30 South 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, in Center City, near Rittenhouse Square. Two minutes' walk from The Westin, five from the Sonesta, and a short walk or ride from 30th Street and Suburban Station.

      Tickets

      Yes. Three or more seats from the same company are $1,295 each. Email support@howtocontract.com with the number of seats and we will set you up. ContractsCon tickets are paid by credit card. We do not invoice unless the total purchase price is $5,000 or more.

      Yes. Most attendees pay with company or firm money. We wrote the approval email for you: a short version, a longer version with the full business case, and a one-page summary. Fill in the blanks and send. Get the editable boss letter.

      Yes, on virtual tickets, and they are on sale now. Full-time employees of nonprofits, universities, and government are $295, which includes up to 7 hours of CLE and CPD credit (pending) and 180 days of recordings. You must register with your employer email address. Full-time students at accredited universities are $195, which includes 180 days of recordings but is not eligible for CLE credit. Students must register with their university email address. Choose your rate at registration and pay by credit card. Get a reduced-rate virtual ticket.

      All tickets are transferable, so a seat you cannot use can go to a colleague. Tickets purchased after July 1, 2026 are non-refundable, which is what the Happiness Guarantee is for: attend the ten core sessions live and if the quality of the training disappoints you, request a refund by 5 pm Friday, October 16, 2026. Full rules are set out with the Happiness Guarantee above.

      CLE & Recordings

      We pursue accreditation in 49 U.S. states (excluding Hawaii) plus every Canadian province that requires CPD. Some jurisdictions credit via self-study, attorney application, or reciprocity. Accreditation is pending at the time of writing.

      Up to 10 hours for the in-person program and up to 7 hours for the virtual program, depending on how your jurisdiction counts. The three extra hours are one of several reasons the in-person seat is the better product.

      Yes. Every ticket, in person and virtual, includes 180 days of access to the virtual program recordings. Recordings are the follow-up, not a substitute for arguing a clause with the eight lawyers at your table.

      Getting Involved

      Sponsorship is available and the 2026 packages are being finalised. Email support@howtocontract.com with your company and what you have in mind and we will send the current options.

      Yes. We use volunteers on site and we are glad to hear from people who want to help. Email support@howtocontract.com.

      A potato.

      The ContractsCon joke graphic answering the question What is a contract with the word potato.

      Prices go up on September 9.
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