Upstanding before the court (5)
I believe the answer is:
erect
'upstanding' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'before the court' is the wordplay.
'before' becomes 'ere' (usually literary).
'the court' becomes 'ct'.
'ere'+'ct'='ERECT'
(Other definitions for erect that I've seen before include "Rigidly upright" , "Standing straight" , "Standing vertically" , "Upright or vertical" , "Construct, build" .)