Parentheticals are all over legal writing. But rarely do folks talk about why (or whether that’s a good thing). Adding a tidbit of insight or explanation in a parenthetical can do wonders for readers. You can amplify a critical point, provide illuminating examples, and more. But too many thoughtless parentheticals make this tool worthless. And many legal writers fall into the trap of replacing their own explanation and reasoning about the law with a list of parentheticals. Let’s start with when legal writers use parentheticals the wrong way. First, parentheticals are not the right place to include critical points for…