diff --git a/openfl/interface/cli.py b/openfl/interface/cli.py
index 9bed2d6c91..9937ddea01 100755
--- a/openfl/interface/cli.py
+++ b/openfl/interface/cli.py
@@ -181,7 +181,12 @@ def cli(context, log_level, no_warnings):
         # Setup logging immediately to suppress unnecessary warnings on import
         # This will be overridden later with user selected debugging level
         disable_warnings()
-    log_file = pathlib.Path(os.getenv("LOG_FILE")).expanduser().resolve()
+    log_file = os.getenv("LOG_FILE")
+    if log_file is None:
+        raise ValueError("LOG_FILE environment variable is not set")
+
+    # Normalize the path
+    log_file = pathlib.Path(log_file).expanduser().resolve()
     setup_logging(log_level, log_file)
     sys.stdout.reconfigure(encoding="utf-8")