There is no universal recruitment-spending requirement for L-1A. Explain the actual organization and proposed role before treating expenditure as evidence of eligibility.
Identify the purpose of each expense
Distinguish business recruitment costs from filing charges, professional preparation and document work. Spending to advertise a position is not proof that someone has been hired or that operational duties have been delegated.
Clarify the scope of trust or corporate legal work, immigration evidence and current filing charges. L-1A is an employer petition, so the company is the applicant before USCIS and the filing fee is a company expense in practice. Compensation does not replace evidence of the actual managerial or executive role. A low government fee estimate does not show that the enterprise can sustain the proposed staffing arrangement. A new office receives an initial one-year period and must be positioned to support the qualifying role; established-office evidence follows current operations. The larger and more avoidable cost is internal: producing corporate evidence that did not exist before, and then producing it a second time after a request for evidence. Ask counsel whether the fee quote includes responding to a request for evidence and preparing the extension, or only the initial filing.