Sorry tale about legal document excluding women (8)
I believe the answer is:
contrite
'sorry' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'tale about legal document excluding women' is the wordplay.
'tale' becomes 'conte' (I have seen 'Narrative tale' mean 'conte' so perhaps 'tale' could also mean 'conte').
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'legal document' becomes 'writ' (document from a court).
'excluding' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'women' becomes 'w' (standard abbreviation).
'writ' with 'w' taken out is 'rit'.
'conte' enclosing 'rit' is 'CONTRITE'.
(Other definitions for contrite that I've seen before include "guilt-ridden" , "Feeling sorrow for sins" , "Feeling remorse" , "Penitent, feeling guilty" , "Full of remorse" .)