LARAMIE (WNE) — Laramie attorney Michael Pearce, the chairman of the Albany County Republican Party, has been suspended from practicing law for one year.

The Wyoming Supreme Court ordered the suspension Wednesday after Pearce was found to have, among other things, misled one of his clients.

“I regret these circumstances and I’m making every effort to make this right,” Pearce told the Laramie Boomerang on Thursday.

The suspension came after Pearce, in two separate court cases, failed to meet court deadlines and failed to comply with court rules and orders in both cases.

Alongside his suspension, Pearce has also been ordered to pay $1,600 in fees by Jan. 1.

The Wyoming State Bar’s Board of Professional Responsibility recommended the suspension July 30 after finding “clear and convincing evidence of a pattern of neglect with respect to client matters.”

Pearce was able to escape disbarment, which is the “presumptive sanction” for making misleading statements, the board’s report states.

According to a report from that board, an unnamed district court judge in one case submitted a complaint, as did one client in another case.

Pearce’s “failure to exercise competence and diligence in representing a client in a personal injury matter resulted in the client’s case being dismissed with prejudice,” the Board of Professional Responsibility found.

In another case, a judge issued a written reprimand for “numerous violations” of the state’s rules regarding “standards of professional behavior.”

Pearce’s one-year suspension goes into effect Aug. 22.