Remote attorney takes first book (7)
I believe the answer is:
distant
'remote' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'attorney takes first book' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'takes' could be 'is' (being is a kind of taking) and 'is' is found within the answer.
'first' could be 'a' (first letter of the alphabet) and 'a' is found within the answer.
'book' could be 'nt' (New Testament) and 'nt' is found within 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 distant that I've seen before include "Far from - reserved" , "cool" , "Unfriendly; far off" , "Aloof" , "Reserved - a long way off" .)