Wretched defendant accepting tip from lawyer (8)
I believe the answer is:
accursed
'wretched' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'defendant accepting tip from lawyer' is the wordplay.
'defendant' becomes 'accused' (synonyms).
'accepting' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are accepted).
'tip from lawyer' becomes 'r' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'accused' enclosing 'r' is 'ACCURSED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for accursed that I've seen before include "Wretched" , "Goddamn" , "Cue cards (anag) - doomed" , "Detestable (colloq.)" , "Hateful" .)