Grateful Family Gives Back, Creating a Lasting Legacy through an International Scholarship Program
Since 2008, Greg Coules, AB ’92, JD ’95, and his wife, Daniella Lipper Coules, have provided funding through their family foundation for a program that enables Israeli law school graduates to pursue an LLM degree at the Law School. Each year the program supports one or two students who exhibit excellent academic potential and who express a desire to return to Israel after completing their studies. The Coulses recently renewed their support for the program, ensuring its continuation through 2020.
“I love the Law School and am deeply grateful for the education I received there,” Mr. Coules says. “I wanted to give back in some way. Then Daniella attended a talk by Richard Epstein and met Saul Levmore—the Law School’s dean at that time—who had attended the talk. After that experience she wholeheartedly joined with me in wanting to support such a great and valuable institution.”
“I had told Daniella that the Law School’s professors were brilliant, but Professor Epstein’s talk demonstrated to her how true that was,” Mr. Coules recalls. “When Dean Levmore sat with us after the talk, she saw that something else I had told her was also true—that my teachers weren’t just brilliant, they were good, warm people, too. She’s no slouch when it comes to education—she graduated magna cum laude from Princeton and went to Harvard Business School—but she was impressed.”
The Couleses then brainstormed ideas with Levmore, and they jointly arrived at the current program. “Daniella and I wanted to help create something that would have broad and lasting value, and we feel that this program accomplishes that,” Mr. Coules says.
The Couleses met at Harvard Business School, which Mr. Coules attended after graduating from the Law School. Ms. Coules went on to serve as a managing director at several prestigious investment firms before becoming an influential leader in US and international philanthropy. Mr. Coules founded and is president of JG Coules Advisors, an executive search firm that specializes in placements of senior-level hedge fund, asset management, and family office professionals. Before that, he held high-level positions at Morgan Stanley, Brencourt Advisors, and Hunter Advisors.
“I received scholarships to attend both the College and the Law School, and I probably couldn’t have done so without that help,” Mr. Coules says. “That’s one important reason I’m pleased to be associated with establishing this scholarship program. More than that, though, I feel deeply grateful for every aspect of my experience at the Law School: the exhilarating intellectual atmosphere, the great camaraderie with students and faculty, and the vital skills I learned. It all prepared me to have success in my career, and it might even have helped me win the heart of my extraordinary wife. I feel humbled by it all, and so very grateful.”