Work on furnishings before court takes case (9)
I believe the answer is:
upholster
'work on furnishings' is the definition.
(to upholster is to do work on an item of furniture)
'court takes case' is the wordplay.
'court takes' becomes 'up' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'case' becomes 'holster' (I've seen this before).
'up'+'holster'='UPHOLSTER'
'before' is the link.
This may not be right. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for upholster that I've seen before include "something to do with furniture" , "restore the throne?" , "Provide furniture with padding, springs etc" , "Provide cover for" , "Provide furnishings" .)