Standing up before empty court? (5)
I believe the answer is:
erect
'standing up' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'before empty court' is the wordplay.
'before' becomes 'ere' (poetic term for 'before').
'empty' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'court' with its middle taken out is 'ct'.
'ere'+'ct'='ERECT'
(Other definitions for erect that I've seen before include "Rigidly upright" , "Found" , "Upright; put up" , "Upstanding" , "Assemble" .)