Leading one has to get the record (7)
I believe the answer is:
archive
'the record' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'leading one has' is the wordplay.
'leading' becomes 'arch' (e.g. in arch-enemy).
'one has' becomes 'I've' (contraction of I have).
'arch'+'ive'='ARCHIVE'
'to get' is the link.
(Other definitions for archive that I've seen before include "Documents store" , "Store for historic records" , "Collection of documents of an institution or community" , "Depository for records and documents" , "Public records store" .)