diff --git a/src/dotnet-svcutil/lib/src/Bootstrapper/SvcutilBootstrapper.cs b/src/dotnet-svcutil/lib/src/Bootstrapper/SvcutilBootstrapper.cs
index 162e7ccb610..321d15f8667 100644
--- a/src/dotnet-svcutil/lib/src/Bootstrapper/SvcutilBootstrapper.cs
+++ b/src/dotnet-svcutil/lib/src/Bootstrapper/SvcutilBootstrapper.cs
@@ -151,6 +151,9 @@ internal async Task GenerateProjectAsync(bool keepBootstrapperDir, ILogger logge
             // Don't treat warnings as errors so the bootstrapper will succeed as often as possible.
             this.MSBuildProj.ClearWarningsAsErrors();
 
+            // Nullable requires newer lang versions.
+            this.MSBuildProj.SetLangVersion();
+
             await this.MSBuildProj.SaveAsync(logger, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
         }
 
diff --git a/src/dotnet-svcutil/lib/src/Shared/MSBuildProj.cs b/src/dotnet-svcutil/lib/src/Shared/MSBuildProj.cs
index 522971d5c25..2ee12dfa754 100644
--- a/src/dotnet-svcutil/lib/src/Shared/MSBuildProj.cs
+++ b/src/dotnet-svcutil/lib/src/Shared/MSBuildProj.cs
@@ -521,6 +521,12 @@ public void ClearWarningsAsErrors()
             SetPropertyValue("WarningsAsErrors", string.Empty);
         }
 
+        public void SetLangVersion()
+        {
+            // netstandard2.0 will throw an error saying default 7.3 lang version is too low, requiring 8 or higher. 
+            SetPropertyValue("LangVersion", "latest");
+        }
+
         private void UpdateTargetFramework(string targetFramework)
         {
             if (_targetFramework != targetFramework && !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(targetFramework))