LinqToQuerystring Object Reference Error when using substringof

I'm receiving the following exception when performing a query using the substringof function. The same error happens when trying endswith.

at LinqToQuerystring.TreeNodes.Base.TreeNode.get_ChildNodes() at LinqToQuerystring.TreeNodes.FilterNode.BuildLinqExpression(IQueryable query, Expression expression, Expression item) at LinqToQuerystring.Extensions.BuildQuery(TreeNode node, IQueryable& queryResult, IQueryable& constrainedQuery) at LinqToQuerystring.Extensions.LinqToQuerystring(IQueryable query, Type inputType, String queryString, Boolean forceDynamicProperties, Int32 maxPageSize) at LinqToQuerystring.Extensions.LinqToQuerystring[T](IQueryable`1 query, String queryString, Boolean forceDynamicProperties, Int32 maxPageSize)

The query string is:

...leads?$filter=substringof('eff', FirstName) eq true

When I use this same resource with the following query string, everything works perfectly.

...leads?$filter=FirstName eq 'jeff'

This is for a .NET 4.5 application using Entity Framework 6.1.0. The call to LinqToQuerystring is from an existing IQueryable object. Basically, I'm returning an IQueryable object for an initial query on a DbSet that has to be done regardless, then if there is a valid OData query string passed in, I then call LinqToQuerystring on that existing IQueryable.

// Returns an IQueryable to filter leads for a given member first. var query = leadQuery.GetAvailableLeadsForMember(LoginInfoContainer.MemberInfo.WcMemberId);

// If we don't have any OData parameters, then just return the normal query. query = string.IsNullOrEmpty(oDataQuery) ? query : query.LinqToQuerystring(oDataQuery);

Any ideas?