Protected fellow in Delaware having finished (8)
I believe the answer is:
defended
'protected' is the definition.
(defending is a kind of protecting)
'fellow in delaware having finished' is the wordplay.
'fellow' becomes 'F' (abbreviation - of a society etc.).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'delaware' becomes 'DE' (abbreviation).
'having' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'finished' becomes 'ended' ('end' can be a synonym of 'finish').
'de'+'ended'='deended'
'f' put within 'deended' is 'DEFENDED'.
(Other definitions for defended that I've seen before include "Protected or supported against attack" , "Tried to justify" , "Protected from harm" , "Represented the accused in a lawsuit" , "Guarded" .)