Judge arrives carrying grip (7)
I believe the answer is:
arbiter
'judge' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'arrives carrying grip' is the wordplay.
'arrives' becomes 'arr' (I've seen this in other clues).
'carrying' indicates putting letters inside.
'grip' becomes 'bite' (biting is a kind of gripping).
'arr' placed around 'bite' is 'ARBITER'.
(Other definitions for arbiter that I've seen before include "Decision maker" , "Judge, final authority" , "One has the authority to resolve disputes" , "One who settles disputes" , "Settler of dispute" .)