By Andrew Cohen
It doesn’t take long for recent UC Berkeley Law grads to climb the ranks and make a meaningful impact early in their wide-ranging careers. We periodically highlight standout alumni who are shining across various practice areas in profiles that amplify what drew them to their current work, what they enjoy most about it, and their path to success.
Takayuki Ueda LL.M. ’23 is a connector at heart. From content to culture, products to people, the head of legal at Orange Inc. finds deep fulfillment bringing manga to the world.
By its very definition, manga — an increasingly popular Japanese art form of comics and graphic storytelling — brings people together across cultures. Ueda credits his LL.M. Program year in Berkeley for enhancing his ability to join Orange in February 2024, where he now splits his time between the company’s San Francisco and Tokyo offices, while continuing his legal practice as a partner at LAB-01 Law Office.
“With nearly 10 years of experience as a startup attorney, I’ve directly witnessed a growing number of startups expanding across borders in the past few years. To support founders expanding globally, I needed a deeper understanding of international legal frameworks and how companies scale beyond their home markets,” Ueda explains. “Berkeley Law was the clear choice — its strong focus on technology and entrepreneurship, its highly international and diverse community, and the opportunity to learn alongside people who are actively shaping the world right now.”
Working with various startups in Japan, Ueda has advised private and public technology companies for nearly a decade. His experience covers new tech companies across a range of industries, including artificial intelligence, legal and privacy technology, HR technology, and healthcare technology.
Ueda now also serves as an adviser at Berkeley SkyDeck, a global startup accelerator and incubator affiliated with UC Berkeley. It provides early-stage companies founded by students, faculty, and alumni with investment, mentorship, structured programs, and access to a vast network of alumni and investors.
As SkyDeck strengthens its presence in the global startup landscape, Ueda shares his experiences both as a startup lawyer in Japan and as part of a cross-border startup at Orange. One recent highlight was participating as a panelist in the program SkyDeck x Japanese Community: Connect, Collaborate, Innovate, where he contributed cross-border practical and legal insights that have become increasingly important in the U.S. and Japan entrepreneurial arenas.
Reflecting more broadly on his work with startups, Ueda explains, “There’s a common perception that startups succeed by pushing into gray areas,” he says. “But as lawyers, our role isn’t to encourage that kind of risk-taking — it’s to help leadership understand how risk truly affects their business. The real challenge is accurately assessing that risk and making strategic decisions based on it. It’s a demanding process, but also one of the most rewarding aspects of working at a startup.”
Riding the manga wave
Manga’s popularity in the U.S. is soaring on the strength of streaming outlets promoting anime, increasing digital accessibility, growing fascination with Japanese pop culture, and surging interest in diverse genres including heartwarming slice-of-life stories, romance, school dramas, comedy, epic historical sagas, and isekai (science or fantasy fiction narratives with a protagonist transported to or reincarnated in an unfamiliar world). Successful anime adaptations fuel demand for original manga, while digital platforms make it easier than ever to access content.
Ueda wears multiple hats at Orange to help drive that momentum. He oversees all legal matters for the Japan side, including product advisory, commercial agreements, fundraising, and intellectual property, while also managing broader corporate operations in the U.S.
“Although it’s a highly challenging role, I feel fortunate to be entrusted with it as it’s exactly the kind of work I’ve been aiming for. I’ve always been drawn to the dual nature of the law — both protecting society and enabling growth,” Ueda says. “In tech especially, the law plays a critical role in fostering innovation while managing societal risks. Whether practicing as outside counsel or in-house, lawyers need to balance innovation with responsibility.”
Orange’s mission — creating a world where everyone enjoys manga — is simple in words but incredibly challenging in practice. Expanding globally requires navigating a wide range of business and legal challenges.
“Japan has countless masterpieces, but many have never been translated and shared globally,” says Ueda. “That’s part of why this mission resonates so deeply with me. Having grown up with manga — baseball manga in particular — I find it incredibly exciting to be part of the effort to bring these stories to the world.”
He credits Berkeley Law’s LL.M. Program for propelling that effort, including the “incredible network” he forged with classmates from around the globe. Ueda has stayed closely connected with classmates and lecturers since graduation, collaborating on cross-border legal projects and even co-authoring a book titled Business Future: Navigating the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Beyond his coursework, he relished taking part in various programs and events — including the Berkeley StEP entrepreneurship program, where he explored launching a new business with his cohorts, and the LLM x Law Hackathon that allowed him to collaborate on an AI project with leading engineers from major tech companies. All stoked his desire to bridge differences, connect cultures, and help people worldwide enjoy manga.
“I see connecting the U.S. and Japanese startup ecosystems and helping build global startups as a core part of my role as a lawyer,” he says. “It’s a long-term journey, and one I’m grateful to be part of.”