TL;DR: ContractsCon 2026 is a two-day in-person event in Philadelphia, October 13-14, with a virtual program October 21-22. The format is a murder mystery training experience called "Death of a Contract." Ten 45-minute sessions put real contract provisions under the microscope, with small-group drafting exercises throughout. The training is sophisticated, the characters are ridiculous, and the contract issues come up in real deals all the time.
Most contract training looks the same. A speaker stands at the front of a room, walks through slides, and the audience tries to stay awake. ContractsCon does something different. The 2026 program turns the training into a two-day murder mystery called "Death of a Contract," where attendees help investigate a commercial deal gone terribly and mysteriously wrong.
This post explains how the format works and why it makes the training stick.
How the Murder Mystery Works
Lead detective Laura Frederick deputizes attendees to help solve the case. Each session puts a real contract provision under the microscope. Expert speakers stay in character throughout, helping the audience identify drafting failures and figure out what went wrong with the deal.
Everyone analyzes the actual contract language together. The audience races to figure out who and what did the deal in. Laura reveals the answer at the end of the event.
The training is sophisticated. The characters are ridiculous. The contract issues are ones we see in real deals all the time.
Day 1: AI Platform Product Agreement
Day 1 focuses on critical provisions in an AI platform product agreement. Five 45-minute mystery training sessions, each with small-group drafting exercises and discussions.
Customer Data Use. The Case of the Open Door.
Rights to Output and Customization. The Case of the Unclear Uses.
Data Flow Architecture. The Case of the Invisible Network.
Data Breach. The Case of the Missing Protocol.
AI Agents. The Case of the Automated Actor.
Day 2: Master Service Agreement Deep Dive
Day 2 dives into a complex master service agreement and its nuances. Five more 45-minute sessions with small-group drafting work.
Project Management. The Case of the Shifting Blame.
Third-Party Inputs. The Case of the Poisoned Source.
Termination and Exit. The Case of the Costly Exit.
Mixed Systems Indemnification. The Case of the Tangled Products.
Liability Limits. The Case of the Disappearing Remedies.
Why the Format Works
Each session splits into two parts. Traditional training by the speaker, then small-table group drafting work. The format gives attendees the chance to immediately practice what they just learned. The peer discussions reinforce the training.
The mystery framing gives the training a through-line. Instead of ten disconnected sessions on different provisions, attendees work through a single deal and watch how the drafting choices interact. By the end of the event, the contract becomes a case file, and every session has added evidence to the investigation.
Where and When
The in-person program runs October 13-14, 2026, in a corporate event space at 30 South 17th Street in downtown Philadelphia. Each day starts at 8:30 a.m. ET and ends at 5 p.m.
If you cannot travel to Philadelphia, the virtual program runs October 21-22, 2026, from 12 to 4:30 p.m. ET. The virtual program offers 7 hours of CLE (pending) with recordings available for 180 days.
We are pursuing CLE and CPD credits in all U.S. states other than Hawaii and in all provinces that require CPD. We expect to offer up to 10 hours of CLE for the in-person program and 7 hours for the virtual program.
Get Your Ticket
ContractsCon attendees come back year after year. The training focuses on skills and techniques you actually need for the contracts you work with all the time. The murder mystery format makes the training memorable in a way that traditional CLE rarely is.
Buy your ticket now to join us in Philadelphia or virtually.
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