A top Sydney lawyer will fight allegations that he grabbed the groin of a young woman as she jogged on a beachside track in northern Sydney.
Carl Harrap, a senior lawyer with the law firm FPA Patent Attorneys, pleaded not guilty to one count of indecent assault in Manly Local Court on Wednesday morning.
Mr Harrap, 40, is accused of grabbing the 20-year-old woman's vagina from behind in Clontarf between 8.45am and 9.11am on December 28.
In court documents, police allege that the offence was of a "sexual nature" and Mr Harrap did not know the woman.
There were two independent witnesses to the alleged attack, police say.
Mr Harrap allegedly assaulted the woman as she jogged along a path, and he was confronted by bystanders before police were called.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he became a partner with FPA, formerly known as Freehills Patent Attorneys, in 2013, and a principal with the firm last year.
Mr Harrap lives with his partner and children in the northern Sydney suburb of Seaforth, according to court documents.
His lawyer Joseph Nashed entered the not guilty plea on his behalf when the charge briefly came before court.
As part of his bail conditions, Mr Harrap has been banned from entering Manly Scenic Walk within 200 metres of Castle Rock Beach.
The magistrate ordered that a brief of evidence be served, and excused Mr Harrap from attending his next court date on March 8.
Holding hands with a woman as he left the court, Mr Harrap did not respond to any questions from the media.
An FPA spokesman said Mr Harrap was still employed by the firm but was on leave.
While Mr Harrap's online staff profile could not be accessed on Wednesday morning, the spokesman said FPA's site had suffered a technical glitch that had affected the profiles of other employees and had since been fixed.