Possible Clues:

• What may be binding legal agreement?
• 'Officialdom is a ruddy bind (3,4)'
• Listening device concealed by old counsel that's securely legal
• It's hard to cut through
• Bureaucratic procedure
• Nice thing to cut through
• Old advice about listening equipment that's legally binding
• Bureaucracy gradually diminished if parts are exchanged?
• Delay cause
• Excessive bureaucracy (3.4)