Austin Bencini writes:

During one of the many sittings of the Committee of the Chamber of Advocates I had the honour of attending with Bertie, it happened that an illustrious member of the chamber felt the need to proclaim to us all that when teenager he was capable enough to have read all the volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Albert Manché in his inimitable fashion, puffed at his much beloved pipe and after allowing his illustrious colleague to conclude, observed: “Please tell me which teenager would even think of spending his time reading all the volumes of the Britannica!”, leaving the remainder of the committee in tears of laughter, in the wake of his illustrious colleague’s deflated ire.

That was Albert: a person of wit, intelligence and, above all, a person of principle.

He was fully dedicated to his legal profession and to the legal profession, having occupied the posts of hon. secretary, vice-president and finally president of the Chamber of Advocates, before being elevated to judge of the Superior Courts of Malta.

Bertie was not intimidated by the tumultuous and violent world of politics of the 1970s and the 1980s. He steered the legal profession through one crisis after another, enveloping even the legal profession, the law courts and the judiciary.

The closure of the courts for weeks on end, the transfer of judges in the middle of sensitive cases, the non-appointment of judges leaving the Constitutional Court not composed for three years, just to mention a few, were all matters of grave concern which Bertie together with the Committee of the Chamber had to face, protest and act upon.

Yet he never lost his composure in the face of any crisis. To us young lawyers of the 1980s, Bertie remained a rock of wisdom, calm reflection and firm, uncompromising adherence to the values of the rule of law.