I assume that you've installed the cable backwards, and have the housing running out towards where your hand would be. You mentioned a difference in "leverage on the brakes", which is controlled by the cable pull ratio, which is determined by the distance from the pivot point to where the cable or housing is anchored. I don't expect that this changes based on the way that the cable and housing is set up, so I'm not sure why you've noticed a difference there. My main concern with this setup would be whether the cable head is well supported, as long as it is then I can't see anything wrong with setting up the lever in this way, although it would be very weird.