Profile

Professor S T Hardy LLB, PhD, FAcSS, PFHEA, MCIArb

Stephen was appointed as the Certification Officer by the Secretary of State for the Department of Business and Trade in October 2025. The independent Certification Officer is responsible for statutory functions relating to trade unions and employers’ associations. 

He is an Emeritus Professor of Employment Law and a former the Dean of the Faculty of Business, Law and Politics with over 3 decades experience in HE. His expertise is in: TUPE; dismissals; discrimination; trade union litigation; and judicial review. He is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

He graduated from UCL in Law (LLB (Hons)) and thereafter, gained a PhD (Law) in 1997 on TUPE; and he was called to the Bar of England and Wales by Lincolns Inn in 2005. He formerly practised in employment and public law, during which time he had been appointed Attorney General's Regional Counsel, Preferred Panel Counsel of the Equality Human Rights Commission. He has acted in landmark cases; such as USDAW v. Woolworths [2012]; Greenwood v. NWF Ltd [2011]; Bateman v. ASDA Stores Ltd; [2010]; Remploy Ltd; v. Shaw [2009]; and Oakland v. Wellswood (Yorkshire) Ltd; [2009]. 

He is a former General Editor of Sweet and Maxwell's Encyclopaedia on Employment.  

He was the Honorary Treasurer of the UK's Society of Legal Scholars (2020-2025) and a Board Governor of the International Association of Law Schools (2019-2023).

Since 2011, he has been a fee-paid Tribunal Judge and was a Member of the Judicial Pensions Board (2019-2023).