Lawyer in a very old cape in court? (8)
I believe the answer is:
advocate
'lawyer' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a very old cape in court?' is the wordplay.
'very' becomes 'v' (abbreviation).
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'cape' becomes 'c' (abbreviation used on maps).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'court?' becomes 'date' (romantically pursue**).
'v'+'o'+'c'='voc'
'voc' put into 'date' is 'dvocate'.
'a'+'dvocate'='ADVOCATE'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for advocate that I've seen before include "Person who pleads on behalf of another, like barrister" , "Caveat, do about lawyer in court" , "Speak in favour of" , "One pleads a cause" , "Argue for" .)