diff --git a/src/main/java/org/olat/core/util/openxml/HTMLToOpenXMLHandler.java b/src/main/java/org/olat/core/util/openxml/HTMLToOpenXMLHandler.java
index 3159fe5037659f2da045698835103cb3fd766e9d..8feb913d4d7737a890807691c948fc7b82d52c84 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/olat/core/util/openxml/HTMLToOpenXMLHandler.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/olat/core/util/openxml/HTMLToOpenXMLHandler.java
@@ -144,6 +144,10 @@ public class HTMLToOpenXMLHandler extends DefaultHandler {
 				flushText();
 				addContent(currentParagraph);
 			}
+			if(currentListParagraph == null) {
+				//nested list
+				currentListParagraph = factory.createListParagraph();
+			}
 			currentParagraph = factory.createListParagraph(currentListParagraph);
 		}
 		return currentParagraph;