The Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge spoke at a networking event to encourage all parts of the legal profession to consider a judicial career.
It was hosted by the judiciary for 200 solicitors, barristers and chartered legal executives in London on 22 November 2012.
He said: "When it comes to judicial appointment the obvious differences of gender, racial origin, social background, all of them and any of them, are differences which do not make any difference, which cannot make any difference, and which we will not allow to make any difference.
"I want the people best qualified to be judges to be appointed as judges. And only people of the necessary quality. No more, and certainly no less."
The speakers were:
- Lord Judge (Lord Chief Justice)
- Helen Grant, (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice)
- Nick Hanning (President of The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives)
- Michael Todd QC (Chairman of the Bar Council)
- Lucy Scott-Moncrieff (President of the Law Society)
- Christopher Stephens (Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission)
The event was chaired by His Honour Judge Marc Dight, Lead Diversity and Community Relations Judge.
