Current desperate before court is not going straight (8)
I believe the answer is:
indirect
'not going straight' is the definition.
'current desperate before court' is the wordplay.
'current' becomes 'in' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'desperate' becomes 'dire' (I've seen this before).
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'court' becomes 'ct'.
'in'+'dire'+'ct'='INDIRECT'
'is' is the link.
(Other definitions for indirect that I've seen before include "Roundabout (route)" , "Circuitous, oblique" , "(Of tax) levied on goods rather than income" , "long drawn-out" , "In credit, not being straight" .)