Athens, GA – Georgia’s judicial council is recommending adding a fourth judge to the Superior Court of the Western Circuit which includes Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties. The circuit says that the large number of students, growing elderly population and high rate of poverty have created a high demand of cases. The case load is around 6,000 which is the fourth highest of all state circuits. The court hopes that adding a new judge will help with this overload. The judgeship still has to be approved by the General Assembly. The earliest the circuit will see the judgeship in place is July.