[2][3][4] Lazarus was appointed a circuit judge for Broward County, Florida in 1993 by governor Lawton Chiles.
During his career as a judge, he presided over the case of Lionel Tate, who he sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for a murder he had committed aged 12.
[2][5] Lazarus also handled the assault case against rapper Foxy Brown, and a corruption charge against a Hollywood, Florida city commissioner Keith Wasserstrom.
[7] In 2018, Lazarus was legally banned from criminal court matters following a statement that crimes committed closer to his residence would result in higher bonds.
Tuter informed Lazarus, who usually works civil foreclosure cases, that he is barred not only from ever presiding over first appearancesagain, but that he is also banned from all matters involving criminal court, saying the statement was "clearly inappropriate.