Legal ambiguity raised stakes before full hearing (8)

I believe the answer is:

loophole

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'legal ambiguity' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'raised stakes before full hearing' is the wordplay.
'raised' is a reversal indicator (going up in a down clue).
'stakes' becomes 'pool' (I've seen this before).
'before full hearing' becomes 'hole' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'pool' reversed gives 'loop'.
'loop'+'hole'='LOOPHOLE'

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(Other definitions for loophole that I've seen before include "opening" , "Weakness in law" , "escape mechanism" , "Opportunity to evade difficulty" , "Ambiguity in the law" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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