Lazard: prepare for strategic advice or a stressed balance sheet

First distinguish Financial Advisory from Asset Management

Lazard's student page describes opportunities across Financial Advisory, Asset Management and Corporate. Financial Advisory describes its model as serving as an adviser rather than a lender or proprietary trader. That business description should not be used as a blanket account of every activity or job across the firm.

Within Financial Advisory, the website identifies M&A and Strategic Advisory, Capital Markets Advisory, Restructuring & Liability Management and Specialized Advisory. Decide which problem interests you before choosing a preparation track. An interest in investing in securities needs a more specific Asset Management role and strategy than a general enthusiasm for transactions.

Sources: Students; Lazard Financial Advisory.

Value and liquidity answer different questions

Lazard's restructuring page identifies debtor and creditor advisory, liability management, capital raising and accelerated asset sales. These capabilities make it useful to prepare both the operating business and the financing claims around it. They do not establish which assignments a particular analyst will receive.

For M&A preparation, explain a buyer's strategic rationale, the standalone value and the benefits needed to justify a premium. For a stressed situation, first ask when cash runs out, what obligations fall due and which assumptions are negotiable. A high long-term enterprise value cannot pay a near-term obligation by itself.

Source: Restructuring & Liability Management.

Check the U.S. role instead of importing another region's process

The student page links to internship and student opportunities across the three businesses. The U.S. careers page links current openings and gives application guidance. Read the actual role for level, graduation requirements, authorization and office; the existence of a student program is not evidence that a particular cohort is accepting applications.

The U.S. office directory lists Financial Advisory in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, and also lists Asset Management in New York and San Francisco. Office presence does not prove the same product coverage or recruiting needs. Keep the named business attached to every office in your research notes.

Use the U.S. role's instructions rather than a London application rule or European training timetable. If team allocation is unclear, prepare the common financial foundations and record the allocation as an unresolved question.

Sources: Students; Careers in the United States; Offices in the United States.

Build the cash timeline before recommending a solution

This original exercise tests cash timing and minimum funding. A real stressed-company analysis also needs payment terms, restricted cash, facility availability, collateral, covenants and legal analysis of rights and priority.

Practise a recommendation with a time limit and an evidence gap

Choose a public company with a disclosed debt maturity or strategic decision. Read its latest statements and debt disclosures. Write separate views of operating value and near-term funding. Use a dated cash balance and identify assumptions about collections, investment and refinancing rather than treating all reported cash as unrestricted.

For strategic advice, compare alternatives at a consistent valuation date. For restructuring, identify the first cash constraint and distinguish possible financing from committed availability. State whether you are advising management, a creditor or an equity holder; their preferred outcomes can differ.

Finish with a recommendation, downside and diligence request. For example, you can calculate a cash shortfall while identifying the missing facility terms needed to assess funding access.

Avoid conclusions the model cannot support

• Enterprise value is not cash on hand. Keep valuation and payment timing in separate schedules before combining the conclusion.
• A debt-to-EBITDA ratio does not establish legal priority or covenant compliance. Read the actual terms in a public example and identify missing information.
• Do not present an Asset Management application as an M&A application. Explain the mandate and analytical work named in the role.
• Public transaction material shows disclosed facts and the firm's stated role. It does not reveal an analyst's personal involvement, interview format or internal staffing.

Your next actions

1. Record the business, U.S. office, role level and current application requirements.
2. Explain why strategic advice, restructuring or asset management fits your interests.
3. Rebuild the six-week cash timeline and test a delayed customer receipt.
4. Write a recommendation that separates value, liquidity and unresolved contractual questions.

Related guides

• Evercore: choose the advisory problem you want to solve
• Choose a New York finance role before choosing an office
• Choose Chicago banking, credit, research or trading
• Choose between San Francisco and the wider Bay Area
• Learn accounting by tracing a transaction into cash
• Build a banking recommendation from accounting and valuation

Sources and scope

Official Lazard pages establish the business distinction, student routes and listed U.S. offices. The liquidity example and preparation guidance are original. They are not Lazard interview material or legal restructuring advice; current openings and role requirements require the actual posting.

The linked pages support the factual descriptions above. Preparation exercises and suggested study sequences are original FinTwin teaching. Programme descriptions and office presence do not establish that an application is currently open.

1. Students — Lazard. Checked 21 October 2026.
2. Lazard Financial Advisory — Lazard. Checked 21 October 2026.
3. Restructuring & Liability Management — Lazard. Checked 21 October 2026.
4. Careers in the United States — Lazard. Checked 21 October 2026.
5. Offices in the United States — Lazard. Checked 21 October 2026.