American lawyer without force or histrionics (5)
I believe the answer is:
drama
'histrionics' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'american lawyer without force' is the wordplay.
'american lawyer' becomes 'da' (abbreviation for District Attorney).
'without' indicates putting letters inside ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'force' becomes 'ram' ('ram' can be a synonym of 'force').
'da' enclosing 'ram' is 'DRAMA'.
'or' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for drama that I've seen before include "Theatrical production" , "interesting spectacles?" , "Play; emotional event" , "Theatrical play" , "Play, emotional series of events" .)