Leading couples among persons operating legally for the public (6)
I believe the answer is:
people
'the public' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for people that I've seen before include "Newspaper" , "Race - mankind" , "Human beings in general" , "Folk; citizens" , "Humankind" .)