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One legal question, many consequences
Estate planning, tax exposure, investment choices, business risk, insurance, and family governance are reviewed together.
Silicon Valley counsel for complex lives
Law, tax, finance, and business judgment in one trusted relationship.
Youya Law helps founders, executives, and business owners build, protect, and transfer wealth with clear legal guidance grounded in tax, finance, technology, and real-world risk.
The practice
Good planning starts where law, tax, and finance overlap.
Youya Law is built for clients whose decisions cannot be understood in isolation: a founder's equity, a family's estate plan, a business owner's succession, a professional's tax exposure, and an investor's cross-border life all shape each other.
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Advice for analytical decision-makers
The firm explains sophisticated topics in plain language for founders, executives, professionals, and investors.
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Long-term advisory relationship
The goal is to become a trusted counsel before major transactions, relocations, equity events, or wealth transfers force rushed decisions.
Advisory areas
Integrated guidance for building, protecting, and transferring wealth.
The firm combines legal analysis with practical business and financial literacy, while staying clear about which services are legal services and which are handled separately by Youya Wealth.
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Tax and Wealth Planning
- Individual income tax analysis
- Executive compensation
- Equity and stock option planning
- Charitable giving strategies
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Estate and Trust Planning
- Wills and trusts
- Asset protection
- Wealth transfer
- Family governance
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Business Solutions
- Contract negotiation and review
- Insurance coverage analysis
- Litigation risk mitigation
- Settlement negotiation
- Business litigation and contract disputes
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Startup Advisory
- IP protection (Patent, Trademark, Copyright)
- Early-stage financing terms
- Founder risk mitigation
- Outside general counsel
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Cross-Border Planning
- Read and write Mandarin Chinese
- International entrepreneurs
- Foreign founders investing in the US
- California relocation planning
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Integrated Long-Term Counsel
- Business, tax, estate, and wealth coordination
- Liquidity event preparation
- Succession planning
Founder
Shirley Nelson brings legal training, financial planning discipline, and a technical mind to advisory work.
Shirley helps clients understand the legal, tax, financial, and operational consequences of important decisions before those decisions become difficult to unwind.
Shirley Nelson
Shirley Nelson, JD, CFP®
梅诗卉
Shirley is especially effective for clients whose legal questions come with tax, business, family wealth, and long-term planning consequences.
Before founding Youya Law, she advised individuals, families, entrepreneurs, and business owners on legal, tax, and wealth strategy, and led cross-departmental risk management work at a Fortune 500 company. She is bilingual in Mandarin and English and supports entrepreneurs, investors, and families with international ties.
Her professional passion is to be a trusted long-term advisor to entrepreneurs and executives, providing integrated guidance on business, tax, estate, and wealth strategies through a single legal advisory relationship.
Attorney admitted in California and New York
Certified Financial Planner® professional
USPTO Patent Attorney
Bilingual in Mandarin and English
Pursuing CPA licensure
Passed CFA Level I
Team
A boutique firm with a relationship-first client experience.
Legal judgment matters. So does the experience of being heard, organized, and guided through the next step with care.
Shirley Nelson
Founder and Attorney
Integrated counsel across estate, trust, tax, business, IP, startup, and wealth-related legal planning.
Bray Zhang
Director of Client Relations
Supports a responsive, organized, and thoughtful client experience from first inquiry through ongoing relationship management.
About Me
A foundation in law, engineering, finance, and cross-border perspective.
Shirley's academic path reflects the same breadth she brings to client work: legal training, technical discipline, intellectual property study, and financial analysis.
Outside the firm
Shirley resides in Cupertino with her husband and their daughter. Outside work, she enjoys music and science fiction, two lifelong interests that reflect her love of structure, imagination, and big-picture thinking.
Contact
Start with context.
A short introductory message is enough. Please do not include confidential facts until Youya Law confirms an engagement in writing.
info@youyalaw.com
Contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship. Conflicts checks, engagement terms, and scope must be completed first.
Youya Wealth is a separate fee-only registered investment advisory firm. Youya Law and Youya Wealth are legally distinct, and services are provided under separate engagement and regulatory frameworks.