diff --git a/gracedb/ligoauth/context_processors.py b/gracedb/ligoauth/context_processors.py
index 508df144a1ef39bfd7d1fe3cd1fb543243187b4b..172a7c7b6fedbeda75448dac042b11c7b413c435 100644
--- a/gracedb/ligoauth/context_processors.py
+++ b/gracedb/ligoauth/context_processors.py
@@ -5,10 +5,12 @@ from .utils import is_internal
 
 def LigoAuthContext(request):
 
+    user = None
     user_is_internal = False
     user_is_lvem = False
     user_is_advocate = False # user is an EM advocate
-    if request.user:
+    if hasattr(request, 'user'):
+        user = request.user
         if is_internal(request.user):
             user_is_internal = True
         if request.user.groups.filter(name=settings.LVEM_GROUP).exists():
@@ -16,5 +18,5 @@ def LigoAuthContext(request):
         if request.user.groups.filter(name=settings.EM_ADVOCATE_GROUP).exists():
             user_is_advocate = True
 
-    return {'user': request.user, 'user_is_internal': user_is_internal,
+    return {'user': user, 'user_is_internal': user_is_internal,
         'user_is_lvem': user_is_lvem, 'user_is_advocate': user_is_advocate}