London Bridge, near the scene of the alleged attack.

A senior associate at Gowling WLG was the victim of a homophobic verbal attack in central London last week.

Construction and engineering lawyer Sarah Rock told Law.com's Legal Week that she was on her way to the Gowling office from London Bridge tube station last week (19 June) when a man approached her and shouted "f*cking lesbian".

"Ironically, I was coming back from lunch with an LGBT activist to arrange an event when this happened," she told Legal Week.

"I was shocked, but it did not affect me personally. The man could have been someone who was unconfident in their own sexuality. I simply walked off, but I think the rise in transphobia and homophobia is quite scary and awareness needs to be raised."

Rock tweeted about what happened and received an outpouring of support from friends, colleagues and the LGBT community.

"There has been some talk about how we don't need Pride anymore, but incidents like these are a reminder that we do, and that we need to educate society about LGBT issues and diversity," she said.

In a statement to Legal Week, Gowling WLG head of diversity, inclusion and CR Lorna Gavin said: "We are horrified to hear about the homophobic attack on Sarah and sickened to see this kind of behaviour taking place. We couldn't agree more with her about the importance of supporting events like Pride and LBGT History Month, and how they are needed now more than ever.

"We stand shoulder to shoulder with Sarah and our LBGT colleagues, and this attack is a stark reminder of how we have to be allies to our friends and colleagues, not just during Pride, but every day of the year."