Take steps in a court (3)
I believe the answer is:
act
'take steps' is the definition.
('act' can be a synonym of 'take steps')
'a court' is the wordplay.
'court' becomes 'ct'.
'a'+'ct'='ACT'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for act that I've seen before include "Routine" , "Take steps" , "Bill successfully prosecuted" , "Major division of play" , "A deed or statute" .)