Joint statement succeeded previously to establish rapport (12)
I believe the answer is:
relationship
'rapport' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'joint statement succeeded previously' is the wordplay.
'joint' becomes 'hip joint' (part of body).
'statement' becomes 'relation' (I've seen this before).
'succeeded' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation).
'previously' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'relation'+'s'='relations'
'hip' after 'relations' is 'RELATIONSHIP'.
'to establish' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for relationship that I've seen before include "Association, connection" , "Romance" , "emotional tie-up" , "Emotional bond" , "Connection, bond" .)