In a Catch-22 situation I had to record a mediation meeting to protect myself. Did I do the right thing?

Bottom Line,Cover your own butt,as know-one will do it for you.

depends wut u were protectin urself from

If you recorded with out the consent of the parties involved then you did the wrong thing, its against the law to record some one with out there knowledge an d approval.(in America anyway)
If you got there approval either on the recording or on paper then yes you did the right thing.

Was there an agreement by the parties that the proceedings could not be recorded?

Otherwise, I think it was a good idea.

However, if it went to trial on the case-in-chief, the recording may be suppressed, since evidence of negotiations and attempted settlement are barred under the Evidence Code.

However, it can be used if there is fraud or bad faith involved.

Contact your attorney for further issues.

Hmmm guessing you didn't ask permission or it wouldn't be a Catch-22. In that case you aren't going to get our approval. You broke the law plain and simple.

I was recently in this position and decided against but only because I had a witness. If you are going to use this recording for your own reference as to what was said then that's OK, but I don't think you can use it as evidence if the other parties had not consented to being recorded.