Ashley Nissenberg Joffe

1980 - 2022

Ashley Nissenberg Joffe passed away on May 7, 2022 after a courageous eleven-month battle with triple negative metastatic breast cancer. She was born in La Jolla on May 23, 1980 and was 41 years old at her death, leaving her husband Brett Joffe, daughter Rose Joffe, age 7, daughter Emilia Joffe, age 5, and son William Joffe, age one. Also surviving her are her mother, Merel Nissenberg of Los Angeles, California, father David Nissenberg of La Jolla, California, her brother, James Nissenberg of Orange County, California and her brother, Brett Nissenberg of Teton Village, Wyoming. Ashley was a 1998 graduate of La Jolla High School. She graduated UCLA in 2002 and USC Law School in 2005. She was a member of the California Bar and a partner in the Century City entertainment law firm of Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich and Gellman.
As a young girl in La Jolla, Ashley was a competitive figure skater. She also played on the water polo team for La Jolla High School. She was a great fan of the Padres and Chargers and was very knowledgeable of all sports. While at UCLA she was an intern with the SFX Sports Agency which represented major league baseball and NBA players. Ashley loved to travel. She spent many vacations in France on the Riviera, and at Christmas time, often went with her mom to Paris and Rome. At UCLA, Ashley was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She and eight of her sorority sisters became steadfast, lifetime friends and those friends formed a strong support system for her during her final illness. Ashley married Brett Joffe in 2013, and they had a wonderful marriage and lived in Beverly Hills.
In 2007 Ashley joined the Yorn, Levine law firm. Not long afterwards it became clear that she had a special gift as a rainmaker in bringing in new clients, many of whom were actors, actresses, producers, agents and the like, and negotiating their contracts with exceptional skill and legal acumen. She gained a reputation in the entertainment world as an attorney par excellence. Ashley realized that there were many potential clients that her firm could help in their careers in the United Kingdom and she spent time in London successfully adding to her firm's clientele. Always willing to give of her time and expertise, she mentored many young people joining the entertainment industry. Her firm issued a press release after her passing stating: "Ashley was an indelible figure in the fabric, life and culture of our firm and our practice. Ashley was a fierce and effective advocate for her clients, whom she loved and cared about in ways that words cannot capture.
Ashley's dedication, legal acumen, and ability to handle any situation with kindness and grace was second to none and she inspired all of us to be better. Ashley was also a compassionate, joyful and kind human being who meant so much to us - both as a company, and as individuals who had the honor of working alongside her every day."
These attributes which are now lost to us make her passing all the more devastating to her close-knit family who loved and cherished her. The Yorn, Levine law firm has set up a fund to support the education of her children to be known as the Ashley Nissenberg Children's Educational Fund. https://yornlevine.betterworld.org/campaigns/ashley-nissenberg-childrens-educ
Her family will also be creating a Foundation in Ashley's honor dedicated to saving lives through genetic testing and through awareness and education about early detection of triple negative breast cancer. The Foundation will also raise funds for research into new treatments for this virulent disease that strikes 10 to 20 percent of women with breast cancer. For more information contact Merel Nissenberg at mgrey@ucsd.edu or David Nissenberg at dnnesq@yahoo.com .
Ashley was laid to rest after a memorial service attended by several hundred people on May 10, 2022, at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California.