Q. If I have a sentence that includes a parenthesis (say I’m talking about a 401[k] plan), do I really have to change the (k) to brackets? It seems wrong to be messing with the government like that :). But then again, if the sentence had a parenthesis that ended with 401(k), I’d have a double parenthesis.
A. If you are bothered by using square brackets within parentheses, either abandon Chicago style (because it does not suit your needs) or rephrase the text to eliminate the need for double parentheses.