Quietly showing initiative, providing legal statement (8)
I believe the answer is:
pleading
'statement' is the definition.
(I know that pleading is a type of statement)
'quietly showing initiative providing legal' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'quietly' could be 'p' (p for piano and quiet) and 'p' is found within the answer.
'initiative' could be 'lead' (I've seen this before) and 'lead' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pleading that I've seen before include "Take no risks" , "Begging" , "Imploring" , "Appealing emotionally" .)