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Risk/Return:

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Risk/Return [Heading]

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Lazard US Corporate Income Portfolio

Objective [Heading]

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Investment Objective

Objective, Primary [Text Block]

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The Portfolio seeks maximum total return from a combination of capital appreciation and current income.

Expense [Heading]

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Fees and Expenses

Expense Narrative [Text Block]

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This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Portfolio.

Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]

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Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Operating Expenses Caption [Text]

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Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination

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2016-05-01

Portfolio Turnover [Heading]

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Portfolio Turnover

Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]

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The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Portfolio shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual portfolio operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate was 28% of the average value of its portfolio.

Portfolio Turnover, Rate

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Expense Example [Heading]

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Example

Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]

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This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same, giving effect to the fee waiver and expense reimbursement arrangement in year one only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Strategy [Heading]

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Principal Investment Strategies

Strategy Narrative [Text Block]

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Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio invests at least 80% of its assets in fixed-income securities issued by corporations or other non-governmental issuers similar to corporations, which securities are tied economically to the US. The Portfolio typically invests a substantial portion of its assets, and may invest up to 100% of its assets, in securities rated, at the time of purchase, below investment grade by S&P or Moody’s and as low as C or Ca by S&P or Moody’s, respectively, or the unrated equivalent as determined by the Investment Manager (“junk bonds”); however, the Portfolio focuses such investments in below investment grade securities that may be considered “better quality” (i.e., rated B1 or higher by Moody’s, B+ or higher by S&P or the unrated equivalent as determined by the Investment Manager). The Portfolio may invest in dollar-denominated securities of non-US companies, including, to a limited extent, in emerging market companies.

Although the Portfolio may invest in fixed-income securities without regard to their maturity, the Portfolio’s average weighted maturity is expected to range between two and ten years.

Securities are evaluated based on their fundamental and structural characteristics. Valuation analysis is tailored to the specific asset class, but may include credit research, prepayment or call options, maturity, duration, coupon, currency and country risks. The Portfolio is constructed using a bottom-up discipline in which the Investment Manager follows a systematic process to seek out undervalued opportunities within each sector.

The Portfolio may invest up to 20% of its assets in other securities which need not be fixed-income securities as described above and need not be tied economically to the US.

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Principal Investment Risks

Risk Narrative [Text Block]

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The value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, which means you could lose money.

Market Risk. Market risks, including political, regulatory, market and economic developments, and developments that impact specific economic sectors, industries or segments of the market, can affect the value of the Portfolio’s investments. In addition, turbulence in financial markets and reduced liquidity in equity, credit and/or fixed income markets may negatively affect many issuers, which could adversely affect the Portfolio.

Issuer Risk. The value of a security may decline for a number of reasons which directly relate to the issuer, such as management performance, financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer’s goods or services, as well as the historical and prospective earnings of the issuer and the value of its assets or factors unrelated to the issuer’s value, such as investor perception.

Fixed-Income and Debt Securities Risk. The market value of a debt security may decline due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a particular company, such as real or perceived adverse economic conditions, changes in the outlook for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates or adverse investor sentiment generally. The debt securities market can be susceptible to increases in volatility and decreases in liquidity. Prices of bonds and other debt securities tend to move inversely with changes in interest rates. Increases in volatility and decreases in liquidity may be caused by a rise in interest rates (or the expectation of a rise in interest rates). Interest rate risk is usually greater for fixed-income securities with longer maturities or durations.

The Portfolio’s investments in lower-rated, higher-yielding securities (“junk bonds”) are subject to greater credit risk than its higher rated investments. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer will not make interest or principal payments, or will not make payments on a timely basis. Non-investment grade securities tend to be more volatile, less liquid and are considered speculative. If there is a decline, or perceived decline, in the credit quality of a debt security (or any guarantor of payment on such security), the security’s value could fall, potentially lowering the Portfolio’s share price. The prices of non-investment grade securities, unlike investment grade debt securities, may fluctuate unpredictably and not necessarily inversely with changes in interest rates. The market for these securities may be less liquid and therefore these securities may be harder to value or sell at an acceptable price, especially during times of market volatility or decline. Liquidity can decline unpredictably in response to overall economic conditions or credit tightening.

Non-US Securities Risk. The Portfolio’s performance will be influenced by political, social and economic factors affecting the non-US countries and companies in which the Portfolio invests. Non-US securities carry special risks, such as less developed or less efficient trading markets, political instability, a lack of company information, differing auditing and legal standards, and, potentially, less liquidity. In addition, investments denominated in currencies other than US dollars may experience a decline in value, in US dollar terms, due solely to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Emerging market countries can generally have economic structures that are less diverse and mature, and political systems that are less stable, than those of developed countries.

Risk Lose Money [Text]

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The value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, which means you could lose money.

Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]

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Performance Bar Chart and Table Year-by-Year Total Returns for Institutional Shares As of 12/31

Performance Narrative [Text Block]

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The accompanying bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in Lazard US Corporate Income Portfolio by showing the Portfolio’s year-by-year performance and its average annual performance compared to that of a broad measure of market performance. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Portfolio’s Institutional Shares has varied from year to year over the past 10 calendar years. Updated performance information is available at www.LazardNet.com or by calling (800) 823-6300. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Portfolio will perform in the future.

Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]

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The accompanying bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in Lazard US Corporate Income Portfolio by showing the Portfolio’s year-by-year performance and its average annual performance compared to that of a broad measure of market performance.

Performance Availability Phone [Text]

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(800) 823-6300

Performance Availability Website Address [Text]

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www.LazardNet.com

Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]

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The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Portfolio will perform in the future.

Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]

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Best Quarter:
6/30/09 13.08%

Worst Quarter:
12/31/08 -15.96%

Highest Quarterly Return, Label

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Best Quarter:

Highest Quarterly Return, Date

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Jun. 30, 2009

Highest Quarterly Return

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Lowest Quarterly Return, Label

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Worst Quarter:

Lowest Quarterly Return, Date

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Dec. 31, 2008

Lowest Quarterly Return

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Performance Table Heading

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Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended December 31, 2014)

Index No Deduction for Fees, Expenses, Taxes [Text]

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(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

Performance Table Uses Highest Federal Rate

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After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes.

Performance Table Not Relevant to Tax Deferred

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The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

Performance Table One Class of after Tax Shown [Text]

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After-tax returns are shown only for Institutional Shares. After-tax returns of the Portfolio’s other share classes will vary.

Performance Table Narrative

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After-tax returns are shown only for Institutional Shares. After-tax returns of the Portfolio’s other share classes will vary. After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. Returns shown below for the Portfolio’s R6 Shares (which were not operational as of December 31, 2014) reflect the performance of the Portfolio’s Institutional Shares. R6 Shares would have had substantially similar returns as Institutional Shares because the share classes are invested in the same portfolio of securities, and the returns would differ only to the extent that the classes do not have the same expenses.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch BB-B US Cash Pay Non-Distressed High Yield Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) (Institutional)

Risk/Return:

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Life of Portfolio

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Bank of America Merrill Lynch BB-B US Cash Pay Non-Distressed High Yield Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) (Open)

Risk/Return:

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rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01

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Life of Portfolio

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Institutional Shares

Risk/Return:

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Redemption Fee (as a percentage of Amount Redeemed)

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Management Fees

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Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees

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none

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Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses

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Fee Waiver or Reimbursement

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^[1]

Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement

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^[1]

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

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Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

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Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years

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Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years

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Annual Return 2005

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Annual Return 2006

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Annual Return 2007

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Annual Return 2008

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Annual Return 2009

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Annual Return 2010

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Annual Return 2011

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Annual Return 2012

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Annual Return 2013

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Annual Return 2014

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rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01

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Life of Portfolio

rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception

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Jan. 02, 1998

Institutional Shares | After Taxes on Distributions

Risk/Return:

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Life of Portfolio

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Institutional Shares | After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

Risk/Return:

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Life of Portfolio

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Open Shares

Risk/Return:

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Redemption Fee (as a percentage of Amount Redeemed)

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Management Fees

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Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees

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Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses

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Fee Waiver or Reimbursement

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^[1]

Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement

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^[1]

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

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Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

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Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years

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Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years

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Life of Portfolio

rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception

rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate

Feb. 24, 1998

R6 Shares

Risk/Return:

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Redemption Fee (as a percentage of Amount Redeemed)

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Management Fees

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Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees

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none

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^[2]

Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses

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Fee Waiver or Reimbursement

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^[1]

Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement

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^[1]

Other Expenses, New Fund, Based on Estimates [Text]

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“Other Expenses” are based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year, using “Other Expenses” for Institutional Shares from the last fiscal year.

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

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Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

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Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years

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Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years

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Life of Portfolio

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[1]

Reflects a contractual agreement by the Investment Manager to waive its fee and, if necessary, reimburse the Portfolio through May 1, 2016, to the extent Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses exceed .55%, .85% and .50% of the average daily net assets of the Portfolio's Institutional Shares, Open Shares and R6 Shares, respectively, exclusive of taxes, brokerage, interest on borrowings, fees and expenses of "Acquired Funds" and extraordinary expenses, and excluding shareholder redemption fees or other transaction fees. This agreement can only be amended by agreement of the Fund, upon approval by the Board, and the Investment Manager to lower the net amount shown and will terminate automatically in the event of termination of the Investment Management Agreement between the Investment Manager and the Fund, on behalf of the Portfolio.

[2]

"Other Expenses" are based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year, using "Other Expenses" for Institutional Shares from the last fiscal year.