Stephen R. Binder

Senior Private Client Business Advisor

"Planning is everything. Most people aim at nothing and hit that target with tremendous accuracy."

During his 41 years in public accounting practice, Stephen provided his clients with pragmatic advice and business advisory insight, and he is now proud to support KJ Harrison Investors in their wealth management strategies for high-net-worth individuals. Stephen’s areas of expertise include strategic business advice, including liquidation and exit strategies, private enterprise tax planning, family business and succession, estate planning, profit and operational improvement.

Prior to joining KJ Harrison Investors in 2016, Stephen spent his last six years in public accounting at Grant Thornton LLP, including in his role as Partner, National Leader, Privately Held Business from 2013 to 2016. Significant practice areas included professional service firms, where he advised and acted on behalf of legal, medical, architectural and consulting firms.

Stephen is often asked to speak on strategic and business-related topics by such organizations as the Toronto Law Office Managers Association, the Ontario Bar Association, the Canadian Law Firm Leaders Summit, the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys, CAFÉ (Canadian Association of Family Enterprise) and the Pharmacy Finance Symposium.

With his 40 years advising the legal industry on financial and strategic matters, Stephen Binder, Partner & Senior Private Client Business Advisor at KJ Harrison, outlines why the old-style legal industry is facing disruption and must

“The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people is to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing or who on earth they are can get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self.”

The Lawyer’s Daily, October 4, 2019 – by Stephen R. Binder, Senior Private Client Business Advisor at KJ Harrison I have been working with lawyers and law firms for a good part of my four and a half decades as an accountant and strategic adviser, and I can say this with some confidence: lawyers aren’t quite like everybody else, at least when it comes to the issue of retirement.

Working with several high net worth individuals across the country, we at KJ Harrison Investors have come to understand and appreciate the many complexities associated with wealth, and the important role that having a solid strategy plays in the management of these complex issues.