Susan Schaffer, the newly elected Athens-Clarke County Probate Court judge, will be sworn into office at 1 p.m. Friday by Western Circuit Superior Court Judge Eric Norris. The ceremony takes place at the Athens-Clarke County Courthouse, but the public can watch virtually on the government link www.accgov.com/schaffer. Schaffer replaces retiring Judge Susan Tate, who served as Probate Court judge for 24 years. Schaffer, who earned her law degree at the University of Memphis, has a broad career in law, according to an Athens-Clarke news release. She began as a legal service attorney working with low-income clients and was managing attorney for the Family Violence Clinic at the University of Georgia for 13 years. For the past six years, she was a staff attorney and chief clerk in the Probate Court, working for Tate.