Extradition cases are the responsibility of the magistrates' courts. In practice, they're not given to benches of volunteer magistrates, but to the group of Dis

Extradition cases are the responsibility of the magistrates' courts. In practice, they're not given to benches of volunteer magistrates, but to the group of District Judge (Magistrates Court)s who sit in a single court (Westminster Magistrates Court) and who have experience of extradition work. DJ (MC)s are professional judges, with the usual legal training, who can sit singly in place of benches of lay magistrates for all the usual work of the magistrates' courts (which is mostly minor crime, straightforward family business, and regulatory civil hearings such as approving liability orders for outstanding council tax). For quite a lot of contentious extradition hearings you actually get the Chief Magistrate, who is a senior district judge. It does have to be said that not being extradited on the basis of a well-formed request is rare, whether you're Julian Assange or not. If the court is confident that you're accused of an extradition offence, and that your trial will be fair, there are few reasons for it not to extradite (normally these days because of anticipated breaches of the Human Rights Act).