Are the liberal professions dead, and if so, does it matter?

I am endeavouring to persuade my own profession to adopt a qualifying oath for solicitors ‐ common in many countries but unknown here. The Editor has asked me to think aloud about that and about the nature of professionalism generally. I do so with deference to the ancient commitment of the medical profession to explicit ethical declarations originating with the Hippocratic oath, and as modernised by several teaching hospitals and other bodies,...