Are lawyers becoming extinct? According to Bloomberg Market’s fifth annual ranking of the 50 most influential people, “keen observers may already have taken note of a curious absence from the list: Practicing lawyers,” observed my colleague Gabe Friedman, editorial manager of Bloomberg’s Big Law Business.

In his post today, “Is the Sun Rising or Setting on the Legal Profession, ” Friedman questions whether there “is devoid of any superstar lawyers in the U.S., which marks a change from previous years.”

The ranking covers six arenas: corporate power builders; policy shapers; money managers, bankers, tech builders and thinkers. Friedman quotes Brian Sheppard, an associate professor at Seton Hall University School of Law: “The general sentiment out there is that Silicon Valley is drawing some of the top talent that would otherwise be in Big Law.” Sheppard also suggests that the “categories are not friendly to Big Law.”

But Friedman also notes a bright side: Massachusetts’ U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren made this year’s list. She’s not alone: 10 other women made the list, and  Janet Yellen, chair, U.S. Federal Reserve, tops the list!  That’s good news!

Monica Bay is a CodeX Fellow and a freelance reporter for Bloomberg BNA’s Big Law Business. She is a member of the California bar.  Twitter: @MonicaBay Email: mbay@codex.stanford.edu.