Attorney volunteers facts gathered for reference (4)
I believe the answer is:
data
'facts gathered for reference' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'attorney volunteers' is the wordplay.
'attorney' becomes 'DA' (district attorney).
'volunteers' becomes 'TA' (abbreviation for Territorial Army).
'da'+'ta'='DATA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for data that I've seen before include "Numerical facts" , "Results of research" , "Organised information" , "Information for/from computer" , "Raw facts" .)