Sorry when working in court before ceremony (8)
I believe the answer is:
contrite
'sorry' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'working in court before ceremony' is the wordplay.
'working' becomes 'on' (on can mean working or activated).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'court' becomes 'ct' (abbreviation used in road names).
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'ceremony' becomes 'rite' (rite is a kind of ceremony).
'on' inserted inside 'ct' is 'cont'.
'cont'+'rite'='CONTRITE'
'when' is the link.
(Other definitions for contrite that I've seen before include "Wholly penitent" , "Repentant about nice trot" , "Penitent, feeling guilty" , "Repentant, remorseful" , "guilt-ridden" .)