Patriot Scientific

A civil case initially assigned to a district judge may also

be reassigned to a magistrate judge if all parties consent to magistrate

judge jurisdiction. The parties should expect the district

judge to ask at the case management conference whether they

have considered consenting to a magistrate judge jurisdiction.

See: consenting to a magistrate judge's jurisdiction in the Northern District of Ca

http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/filelibrary/34/MagistrateJudgeBrochure-7-2011.pdf