Mediation is a process by which the parties hire a third party to see about reaching an amicable agreement. It appears you may be inquiring about the Mandatory Settlement Conference (MSC) that can be set after your trial setting conference. The MSC can be 30, 60 or more days before your trial depending on how impacted the courtroom where your matter will be heard is.

You do not say what kind of a matter you have. However, voluntary mediation can take place any time prior to trial. If this is a family law matter, Family Court Services is an arm of the court and provides mediation. If this is general civil matter, you should have received information about Alternative Dispute Resolution ( ADR, mediation, settlement) when you filed the case or were served with the petition/complaint. Below is a link that will tell you about the ADR program/ requirements for Los Angeles. There is a telephone number on the PDF that you can call for specific information.

http://www.lacourt.org/division/civil/pdf/ADRPacket.pdf

IF this is a small claim matter, below is a link for information about mediation.

http://www.lacourt.org/division/civil/pdf/additionalInformation.pdf

Basically, you should act as early as possible to mediate so that you can put the legal matter behind you are early as possible and hopefully avoid a trial.

There is no fixed answer to this. Mediation might be tried years before a trial would be possible. The idea of mediation is to make a trial unnecessary. A mediation might substitute for a trial. In some small matters, an attempted mediation and a trial, if mediation fails, could take place on the same day.

You may voluntarily participate in mediation at any time prior to your trial date.