Lazard Inc

To the stockholders and the Board of Directors of Lazard, Inc. (formerly Lazard Ltd):

Opinion on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the internal control over financial reporting of Lazard Ltd and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by COSO.

We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated financial statements and schedule as listed in the Index at Item 8 as of and for the year ended December 31, 2023, of the Company and our report dated February 23, 2024, expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial statements and schedule.

Basis for Opinion

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying “Management's Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting”. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ Deloitte & Touche LLP

New York, New York

February 23, 2024

To the stockholders and the Board of Directors of Lazard, Inc. (formerly Lazard Ltd):

Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated statements of financial condition of Lazard Ltd and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income, cash flows, and changes in stockholders’ equity and redeemable noncontrolling interests for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, the related notes and the schedule listed in the Index at Item 8 (collectively the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (U.S. GAAP).

We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013)issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our report dated February 23, 2024, expressed an unqualified opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current-period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Investment banking and other advisory fees—Refer to Note 4 Revenue Recognition to the consolidated financial statements

Critical Audit Matter Description

The Company generally recognizes investment banking and other advisory fees as the benefits of these advisory services are provided to the Company’s clients. These advisory services typically include transaction announcement and transaction completion fees. These fees are not typically recognized until there is an announcement or completion due to the uncertainty associated with those events. However, earlier recognition is appropriate if it is probable that significant reversal of the applicable revenue will not occur.

We identified the recognition of investment banking and other advisory fees as a critical audit matter because of the judgment required in determining the appropriate period to recognize transaction announcement and transaction completion fees, including obtaining and evaluating appropriate supporting documentation. As such, auditing these transactions required a high degree of auditor judgment when performing audit procedures and evaluating the results of those procedures.

How the Critical Audit Matter Was Addressed in the Audit

Our audit procedures related to investment banking and other advisory fees included the following, among others:

•We tested the effectiveness of controls over the recognition of investment banking and other advisory fees, including those over the timing of revenue recognition.

•We selected a sample of contracts with clients and performed the following:

–Evaluated the terms and conditions of the respective contract to verify the Company appropriately identified its performance obligations and the related fees.

–Evaluated the accuracy of management’s calculation of investment banking and other advisory fees recognized by recalculating the revenue amounts and comparing our expectation to the amount recorded by management.

–Evaluated third party and the Company’s evidence, including, but not limited to, confirmations, court and regulatory approvals, press releases, executed agreements, communications and underlying transaction closing documents, to verify that the revenue recognition criteria were met and revenue was recognized in accordance with U.S. GAAP, including in the appropriate period.

•On a sample basis, we performed the above procedures on investment banking and other advisory fees recognized in the subsequent year to determine if such revenue should have been recorded in the current year.

/s/ Deloitte & Touche LLP

New York, New York

February 23, 2024

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2000.