Analysis by leading attorney in hard case (5)
I believe the answer is:
testa
'hard case' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'analysis by leading attorney' is the wordplay.
'analysis' becomes 'test' ().
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'leading' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'attorney' is 'a'.
'test'+'a'='TESTA'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for testa that I've seen before include "protective coat" , "hard case" , "cover for a seed" , "Hard shell" , "Botanical term" .)