How to Contract Blog

Here are the latest updates, articles, and training resources from How to Contract.

Future Webinars

Goods

Biggest Mistakes Customers Make in Goods Contracts: What Not to Do

Join Laura Frederick and Krista Lynn on August 27, 2026 at 12 pm ET as they explore the mistakes customers make most often in goods contracts and what to do instead.

Laura Frederick, Krista Lynn

Mini-Course: Generative AI Prompting for In-House Counsel – a Primer

AI Operations and Tools

Future Webinars

Mini-Course: Generative AI Prompting for In-House Counsel – a Primer

Join Laura Frederick and Sterling Miller in this webinar on September 22, 2026 at 12 pm ET to learn how you can enhance your legal work with generative AI.

Laura Frederick, Sterling Miller

Future Webinars

Drafting AI Warranty, Output Accuracy, and Acceptance Testing Provisions

Join Laura Frederick and Matt Kohel in this webinar on September 16, 2026 at 12 pm ET as they work through the warranty, acceptance, and disclaimer terms that decide what an AI vendor is actually on the hook for.

Laura Frederick, Matt Kohel

Drafting AI Redlines in Your Sell-Side Contracts: Responding to Customer AI Addenda

AI Contract Structure

Future Webinars

Drafting AI Redlines in Your Sell-Side Contracts: Responding to Customer AI Addenda

Join Laura Frederick and Carly Penner in this webinar on September 2, 2026 at 12 pm ET as they work through the AI disclosure, data training, and compliance provisions customers are putting on the table.

Laura Frederick, Carly Penner

Drafting Data Provisions to Comply With U.S. State Privacy Laws

Future Webinars

Data Privacy

Drafting Data Provisions to Comply With U.S. State Privacy Laws

Join Laura Frederick, Kimberly Pack, and Arohi Kashyap in this webinar on September 3, 2026 at 12 pm ET to find where one set of contract language satisfies multiple state privacy laws, and where it can't.

Laura Frederick, Kimberly Pack, Arohi Kashyap

Newsletter

6 AI Risk Mitigation Strategies for Your DPAs (PDF Download) | Newsletter August 13, 2026

This week: PDF handout with six ways to mitigate DPA risks tied to AI features, upcoming free CLE webinars, our new ContractsCon Happiness Guarantee, Spellbook's autonomous contract feature, a contract meme, and 4 contract tips.

Laura Frederick

6 AI Risk Mitigation Strategies for Your DPAs (With PDF Handout)

AI Policy and Governance

AI Data Security

6 AI Risk Mitigation Strategies for Your DPAs (With PDF Handout)

A practical breakdown of the risk areas showing up in AI data processing agreements today, with mitigation strategies you can put directly into your contracts.

Laura Frederick

The 'Derived Data' AI Contract Timebomb | Newsletter August 7, 2026

This week's newsletter covers why we should add 'derived' to the list of problematic AI contract terms, upcoming free CLE webinars, a law firm insures its autonomous agents, plus a meme and four contract tips.

Laura Frederick

Future Webinars

GDPR Fundamentals for Negotiating DPAs, SCCs, and Vendor Terms

Join Laura Frederick, Robby Reggers, and Marta Hovanesian in this webinar on September 1, 2026 at 12 pm ET as they cover the GDPR concepts that drive how DPAs, SCCs, and vendor terms get negotiated.

Laura Frederick, Robby Reggers, Marta Hovanesian

Add ‘Derived’ to the List of Problematic AI Contract Terms

We use ‘derived’ thinking that the plain language meaning is good enough. But this imprecise phrase may prove to bea future battleground for AI contract disputes.

Laura Frederick

Indemnification

Future Webinars

Drafting Indemnification Procedures: Notice, Defense Control, and Settlement Provisions

Join Laura Frederick, Emily Stedman, and Brian Chang in this webinar on August 25, 2026 at 12 pm ET as they work through the indemnification procedures that decide who controls the defense and who pays for the settlement.

Laura Frederick, Emily Logan Stedman, Brian Chang

Drafting Termination Rights and Post-Termination Obligations

Future Webinars

Term, Termination and Renewal

Drafting Termination Rights and Post-Termination Obligations

Join Laura Frederick, Marybeth Stramaglia, and Lindsey Sands in this webinar on August 20, 2026 at 12 pm ET as they explore the termination and wind-down terms that decide how cleanly a deal ends.

Laura Frederick, Marybeth Stramaglia, Lindsey Sands

Future Webinars

Webinar on Drafting MCP Provisions (Commercial and Data Handling)

Join Laura Frederick, Hebe Doneski, and Matt Kohel in this webinar on August 19, 2026 at 12 pm ET as they cover how to draft the commercial and data handling terms in MCP agreements.

Laura Frederick, Hebe Doneski, Matt Kohel

Why Vendors Make Concessions in Smaller Deals | Newsletter July 30, 2026

This week: what goes into vendors agreeing to concessions on small contracts, a lesson on reviewing AI incident response clauses, upcoming free CLE webinars, a contract meme, and contract tips

Laura Frederick

Articles

Why Vendors Agree to Concessions in Smaller Deals

Just because it's a smaller contract risk or value does not automatically mean there will be no concessions. For both vendors and customers, successfully navigating small-deal negotiations depends on how you ask.

Laura Frederick

Future Webinars

Drafting AI Bias, Fairness, and Discrimination Terms

Join Laura Frederick, Joanna Valencia, and Anya Ryjkova in this webinar on August 26, 2026 at 12 pm ET as they cover which AI bias terms hold up and which vendors strike.

Laura Frederick, Anya Ryjkova, Joanna Valencia

Newsletter

Why I Don't Share Model Provisions | Newsletter July 24, 2026

This week: why I choose not to share model provisions, a lesson on how to draft indemnification claims and exclusions, upcoming free CLE webinars, insights into the University of Chicago 1L course changes, a contract meme, and four fresh contract tips.

Laura Frederick

Articles

Why I Don't Share Model Provisions

Despite providing hundreds of hours of training programs and thousands of posts with contract advice over the past five years, I've never shared model versions of contract language. Here's why.

Laura Frederick

Indemnification

ContractsCon

ContractsCon Fun: Indemnification Training by Two Cavemen (25-Minute Video + Full Slide Deck)

Watch two cavemen lawyers (aka Jonathan Perkel and Sterling Miller) explain indemnification claims and exclusions.

Jonathan Perkel, Sterling Miller

10 Ways to Improve Contract Strategy in Small Legal Departments: Expert Insights

Past Webinars

Contract Leadership

10 Ways to Improve Contract Strategy in Small Legal Departments: Expert Insights

Tanya Avila and Chris Crook joined host Laura Frederick to share how they triaged contract work, chose their next hire, built usable playbooks, and set expectations when resources stayed tight.

Laura Frederick, Chris Crook, Tanya Avila, How to Contract Team

Newsletter

Why you should put a price on contract risk | Newsletter July 16, 2026

This week: the case for framing contract risk in financial terms, a PDF and video lesson on drafting AI model training provisions, upcoming free CLE webinars, plus a contract meme cartoon, and tips.

Laura Frederick