diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 981d2fd23..2e49e661c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Make Django request span attributes available for `start_span`. 
   ([#1730](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python-contrib/pull/1730))
 
+### Fixed
+
+- Fix `AttributeError` when AWS Lambda handler receives a list event
+  ([#1738](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python-contrib/pull/1738))
+
 
 ## Version 1.17.0/0.38b0 (2023-03-22)
 
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/aws_lambda/__init__.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/aws_lambda/__init__.py
index 938540049..4404839c6 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/aws_lambda/__init__.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/aws_lambda/__init__.py
@@ -342,7 +342,9 @@ def _instrument(
             # If the request came from an API Gateway, extract http attributes from the event
             # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/blob/main/specification/trace/semantic_conventions/instrumentation/aws-lambda.md#api-gateway
             # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/blob/main/specification/trace/semantic_conventions/http.md#http-server-semantic-conventions
-            if lambda_event and lambda_event.get("requestContext"):
+            if isinstance(lambda_event, dict) and lambda_event.get(
+                "requestContext"
+            ):
                 span.set_attribute(SpanAttributes.FAAS_TRIGGER, "http")
 
                 if lambda_event.get("version") == "2.0":
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/tests/test_aws_lambda_instrumentation_manual.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/tests/test_aws_lambda_instrumentation_manual.py
index fd3c9f88c..1df7499d3 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/tests/test_aws_lambda_instrumentation_manual.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/tests/test_aws_lambda_instrumentation_manual.py
@@ -399,6 +399,15 @@ class TestAwsLambdaInstrumentor(TestBase):
             },
         )
 
+    def test_lambda_handles_list_event(self):
+        AwsLambdaInstrumentor().instrument()
+
+        mock_execute_lambda([{"message": "test"}])
+
+        spans = self.memory_exporter.get_finished_spans()
+
+        assert spans
+
     def test_uninstrument(self):
         AwsLambdaInstrumentor().instrument()