How and what goes on at pre motion conference?I have one 1/3/2019 vs USTA at US Southern District Court.Judge E Ramos assigned to case.

I know absolutely nothing about the facts of your case or its procedural history. I do know that you need legal counsel if you are in federal court. I also know that no employer, no matter how strong your evidence might be, has to settle or agree to settlement. If your case is not yet "at issue" you need to make sure it gets there. If you don't know what that means that's a great reason to retain legal counsel. Many, many many cases are dismissed before they are "at issue". Were the case to reach such point then all employment cases are referred to mediation but that does not assure resolution. If you are scheduled for mediation, then you absolutely, positively should have legal counsel to advise you during that process because you could miss a golden opportunity to resolve your case; regardless of the employer's stance at inception. Remember that nowadays, some of us will enter a limited appearance on a case just for a specific portion of that case, with the court' s permission of course. Were you to reach out to one of us for mediation only we might agree to undertake just that portion of the case. The reason for saying this is because we assume you have spoken to many attorneys before filing suit and there was no mutually agreeable representation arrangement reached which sometimes means that your claims may be tough to prove. Most are. Or that your case may not be as strong as you might think it is. Sometimes, if we can prepare the pre-mediation statement sufficiently to try to get whatever mediator is assigned to look favorably at your claim from the start, there might be a possibility of settling at that point. However, that will require a VERY candid discussion regarding what your expectations are and a written, signed, fee agreement before any representation occurs. A lawyer who appears at mediation without putting in substantial work to prepare for mediation is unlikely to be successful at mediation. And that's because you have done little if any discovery at that point. Laywer up as soon as possible or if you make it to mediation do so before that occurs; possibly just for that segment with court approval of course. For really tough to prove cases resolution is better than a loss and you will need a lawyer to help you see that if that's your situation.