Result in French -- institute legal proceedings (5)
I believe the answer is:
ensue
'result' is the definition.
('ensue' can be a synonym of 'result')
'in french institute legal proceedings' is the wordplay.
'in french' becomes 'en' ('en' can be French for 'in' e.g. en France).
'institute legal proceedings' becomes 'sue' (I've seen this before).
'en'+'sue'='ENSUE'
(Other definitions for ensue that I've seen before include "Come to pass" , "Arise" , "Happen as consequence or afterward" , "Turn out" , "Follow afterwards" .)