It is with great honor that the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) announces the promotion of Dani Pinter to Chief Legal Officer and Director of the NCOSE Law Center.
Pinter started with NCOSE in 2015, back when the Law Center was purely an idea that hadn’t grown its legs quite yet. Since then, Pinter has been instrumental in developing and expanding the NCOSE Law Center, all while using her legal skills to fight perpetrators of sexual exploitation.
Pinter’s passion for her work is apparent in a way that many people would envy. It shines through in a zealous conversation on our podcast, a media interview about a major headline, or even just in routine meetings with her colleagues. We are so grateful to have someone like Dani Pinter lead our team to its next phase of life. She is a true trailblazer and will not rest until everyone can live and love, free from sexual exploitation.
Life Before NCOSE
Like many idealistic young people, Pinter knew she wanted to have a career that would make the world a better place. She went into law school not knowing exactly how she would achieve this, until she became educated on sex trafficking. The more she learned about sex trafficking and sexual exploitation, she knew her calling was to put a stop to these atrocities.
“Growing up in the 90s and 2000s, the sexualization of women was everywhere,” she recalled. “It made me feel bad about myself; it gave me body image issues. All the boys around me were always sexualizing all the girls. And it was very evident to me that it had to do with our culture and pornography.”
At the time, Pinter said she felt alone in these thoughts. That nobody else was seeing this as a problem, or if they did, rarely did anyone speak up about it. Then she discovered NCOSE.
Almost immediately out of law school, Pinter joined NCOSE for a brief stint before going to work for the state of Florida to prosecute cases of child abuse, abandonment, and neglect. Ultimately, Pinter found her way back to NCOSE.
While working for the state of Florida, Pinter said, “Trafficking and sexual exploitation came up a lot. So, I was working directly with [survivors] and families and I learned a lot. I was happy I could take that experience back to NCOSE when I came back.”
@danibpinter Epstein update: DOJ Maxwell interview. A slap in the face to the victims #epstein #epsteinisland @NCOSE ♬ original sound – Dani B Pinter
Dani Pinter’s Role in the Creation of the NCOSE Law Center
When Pinter joined NCOSE in 2015, she said the idea for a law center was “still percolating.”
“We were laying the groundwork, trying to figure out what a law center would look like for NCOSE,” she said.
She expressed gratitude to her mentor, NCOSE General Counsel, Benjamin Bull, for helping get the Law Center off the ground.
“He’s a powerhouse. He’s an incredible lawyer, with a historic career. So, he’s able to bring all of that to NCOSE to really build and create the Law Center,” she said. “It’s been the greatest honor of my life working for him.”
Throughout her time at NCOSE, Pinter has taken on lawsuits against some of the heaviest hitters, including Pornhub, Twitter, and XVideos. She drafted the first piece of legislation recognizing the public health impacts of pornography, which has since been adopted in more than a dozen states.
Pinter has been vital in the fight against Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law that has been used to give tech companies immunity from liability for facilitating sexual exploitation and other harms. Alongside co-counsel, she successfully argued that MindGeek (parent company of Pornhub at the time) should not qualify for immunity under Section 230, and that the minor sex trafficking survivors in her case had sufficiently pled their claims under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
“I feel kind of humbled and shocked that I’m in this position now, but excited to just continue the next stage for the Law Center,” Pinter said. “I think we’ve been in sort of like the building/creating stage, you know, there was no Law Center and then Ben made one, and now I think the torch has passed me to figure out where what to do next. What’s the next phase look like?”
Future Aspirations for NCOSE
So, what does the next phase of the NCOSE Law Center look like?
For Pinter, one of her goals is to garner more bipartisan support to combat sexual exploitation. In this increasingly divided political landscape, Pinter says bringing people together on one issue would be really powerful.
“One of the biggest keys to NCOSE’s success is that we are bipartisan or non-partisan, that we bring people from every spectrum, every variety of worldview together on this issue of opposing sexual exploitation. I want to see us continue to do that and kind of take that to the next level,” she said.
“I think, ultimately, if we want some of the policy changes or the legal efforts to be successful, we want everyone on board with that. There’s always going to be opposition, but I think this is an issue where we should have broad consensus. That’s important for long term success on these issues.”
Pinter expressed excitement for the growth of the Law Center with some new attorneys, especially now that she can pay forward the mentorship that she received when she first started out at NCOSE.
“I’m excited just be in the position to help this new generation of attorneys grow at NCOSE… and hopefully help them like Ben helped me,” she said.
You Can Help the NCOSE Law Center Grow!
As the NCOSE Law Center represents all our clients without charging them, your support is a big part of what makes this work possible. Please become a monthly donor to the NCOSE Law Center to help it grow, and to win justice for survivors and accountability for exploiters!
