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A rising third-year law student at the College of William and Mary was struck and killed by a Washington Metro rail system train early Sunday.

Joseph Doyle, who had graduated from the University of Virginia in 2004 as an English major, died in the accident about 3 a.m., said Virginia M. Ambler, vice president for student affairs at W&M.

Ambler announced the death in an e-mail message to the college community yesterday. “It appears the accident occurred when he was switching from one train to another,” she said.

Doyle was a native of Oklahoma.  

 “Joe was a superb law student with a very bright future,” said Davison Douglas, dean of the law school.

Doyle was working this summer at the law firm of King & Spalding, and planned to travel to Spain in the fall for an exchange program, Ambler said.

Doyle was especially interested in election law, and had worked for the state Board of Elections and served as vice president of the law school’s Election Law Society, Douglas said. He had also worked for the U.S. Senate campaign of Brad Carson in Oklahoma in 2004.