Stockholders' Equity - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	1 Months Ended					3 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended					3 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2013	Oct. 31, 2012	Apr. 30, 2012	Oct. 31, 2011	Feb. 28, 2011	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Apr. 30, 2014 Subsequent Event [Member]	Apr. 30, 2014 Maximum [Member] Subsequent Event [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Class A Common Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Class A Common Stock [Member]	Apr. 30, 2014 Class A Common Stock [Member] Subsequent Event [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Series A Preferred Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Series A Preferred Stock [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Series B Preferred Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Series B Preferred Stock [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 LAZ-MD Holdings [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 LAZ-MD Holdings [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Subsidiaries of Lazard Ltd [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Subsidiaries of Lazard Ltd [Member]
Schedule Of Stockholders Equity [Line Items]
Company tax distributions																	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Share repurchase remaining authorization						14,654,000
Share repurchase program expiration date	December 31, 2015	December 31, 2014	December 31, 2013	December 31, 2013	December 31, 2012	December 31, 2015		2015-12-31
New share repurchase authorization repurchase amount									$ 200,000,000
Authorized shares of preferred stock						15,000,000	15,000,000
Par value of preferred stock						$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Outstanding shares of preferred stock													7,921	7,921	0	0
Conversion of Series A preferred stock into Class A common stock (in shares)										0	0
DIVIDEND DECLARED PER SHARE OF COMMON STOCK						$ 0.30						$ 0.30
Dividend payable date												May 23, 2014
Dividend date of record												May 12, 2014
Dividend declare date												Apr. 30, 2014