A male attorney climbing in front (5)
I believe the answer is:
ahead
'in front' is the definition.
(I know that in front can be written as ahead)
'a male attorney climbing' is the wordplay.
'male' becomes 'he' (he refers to a man).
'attorney' becomes 'D.A.' (abbreviation for District Attorney).
'climbing' is a reversal indicator (in a down clue, letters climb up).
'da' backwards is 'ad'.
'a'+'he'+'ad'='AHEAD'
(Other definitions for ahead that I've seen before include "Forwards" , "at pole" , "Winning" , "in van" , "In the future" .)