Unlocking the Law

Carol Beth Litkouhi is a Rochester Community Schools board trustee who asked a simple question: what are kids actually learning in the new ethnic and gender studies class? After filing an FOIA request, she was told no records existed. She appealed but they stayed silent… Now she's in the middle of a First Amendment lawsuit. We got into: → Why parents were are pulling their kids from Rochester scho...

Linda Ferrante has been recruiting for 28 years. She co-founded RFT Search Group out of Farmington Hills, focused almost entirely on family-owned and privately held businesses. She's been published in the Wall Street Journal. She's appeared on national radio. And two months ago, she replied to a LinkedIn post and accidentally became Spitfire Linda on Reddit. Things we talked about in this episode:...

Matthew Wilk spent eight and a half years on the Northville School Board. He's a commercial real estate attorney who went on to work in lending. When House Bill 6088 passed during Michigan's lame duck session and removed Wayne County communities' right to opt out of the regional transit system, Matthew paid attention. In this episode we covered: → How Wayne County communities lost their opt-out ri...

Jim Biga is a lifelong Livonia resident, a retired federal contracting professional, and the president of the Wolverine Dog Training Club. When the city began holding planning sessions around a proposed $150 million bond, Jim started attending and came away with questions. He says the plan changed at each session, costs were hard to pin down, and he felt his questions weren't getting direct answer...

Most people never ask a lawyer a question until they absolutely have to. Our team posted in the All Things Livonia Facebook group and asked:  "What legal questions are actually on your mind?" In this special Q&A episode, we covered: → Why the Sears building is still standing → Why workers' comp can cut you off mid-treatment → Medicare vs. Medicaid and what actually pays for assisted living → W...

Dillon England started a podcast on a whim because his wife suggested it. He had two mismatching microphones and a camera that cut out every 30 minutes. But afterwards, he knew he wanted to be in podcasting for the rest of his life. Dillon had worked in 100% commissions insurance sales and started a video editing company.  Both didn't turn out the way he wanted, but it all lead him to discovering...

Tyler Vines has been on the Livonia Police Department for nearly 14 years. He's been in patrol the whole time. Two months ago, he became president of the Livonia Police Officers Association. He walked into that role and straight into a crisis. Twenty-nine officers left the department in 2025. They hired five. The station they work out of is a patchwork of two buildings from the 1960s bolted togeth...

Brandon McCullough has built his political reputation on saying exactly what he thinks. Sometimes, he told me, that's gotten him in trouble. When the millage proposal was shot down in August, Brandon was in the middle of it, putting his strong opinions out online. When the dust settled, he had to sit with the reality that the city he grew up in still needed a new police station and a community tha...

Jay Murray is a contributing writer at the Michigan Enjoyer who holds White House press credentials and has spent the last two years covering Livonia from the inside. He's lived there almost his entire life.  He loves the city... but he's also watched it stall. What he's found in Livonia surprised him... A suburb that still looks like 1982. A political machine dating back decades that still shapes...

Veronica Cruz runs two nonprofits almost entirely on volunteer power, and she's seen people start with fire in their hearts and a cause they believe in... but very quickly reality hits. ✕ The paperwork takes months.  ✕ The IRS moves at a snail's pace.  ✕ Volunteers don't show up. ✕ Board members burn out. ✕ Grant applications get rejected. In our episode, Veronica walks through what actually goes...

Recruiter Adam Klug knows what really happens when non-competes enter the hiring conversation. Adam has seen four-year restrictions kill otherwise perfect job offers and he's learned that most people who sign these agreements never actually read them. Our conversation gets into the mechanics of non-competes: what courts actually enforce, why geography clauses written in the 1980s don't make sense...

Host Brandon Grysko is joined by Risk Consultant Kefentse Mandisa for an honest, practical conversation about Employment Practices & Liability Insurance. They discuss what it covers, where employers get burned, how claims actually unfold, and why documentation, early reporting, and risk management matter more than most businesses realize.

In the first episode of Unlocking the Law with Brandon Gryskoo, attorney and host Brandon kicks off the series by breaking down the top five phrases every lawyer dreads to hear from a client - and why they matter.  From "I already signed it" to "This should be quick and easy," Brandon shares real-world insight that helps demystify the attorney-client relationship.