diff --git a/atlassian/rest_client.py b/atlassian/rest_client.py
index ee92fd19c..40bbb3586 100644
--- a/atlassian/rest_client.py
+++ b/atlassian/rest_client.py
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ def __init__(
         api_root: str = "rest/api",
         api_version: Union[str, int] = "latest",
         verify_ssl: bool = True,
-        session: Optional[requests.Session] = None,
+        session: Optional[requests.Session] = requests.Session(),
         oauth: Optional[dict] = None,
         oauth2: Optional[dict] = None,
         cookies: Optional[CookieJar] = None,